By Mikayla van Loon
The Yarra Valley has featured heavily among the nominations for the 2024 Halliday Wine Companion Awards against some of the top Australian wineries and makers.
The shortlist, released on Wednesday 14 June, named both Giant Steps and Oakridge Wines in the winery of the year category, Mount Mary’s Sam Middleton nominated for winemaker of the year and viticulturist of the year listed Stuart Proud from Thousand Candles.
Best value winery saw three Yarra Valley wineries get a mention, with Dappled Wines, De Bortoli and Oakridge being nominated, while Emilian was named in the dark horse category.
For Thousand Candles winemaker and viticulturist Stuart Proud, wine is more than just the product of fermenting grapes, it all starts with the soil.
“It’s the absolute underpinning foundation of everything that you do not just in vineyards, but if you are growing or cultivating a crop, whether it be pasture for cattle, orchards or annual crops, horticulture or broadacre farming,” he said.
“The health and balance of the soil is the key foundation to everything. It’s the heartbeat of the whole production system.”
Having worked on a range of vineyards throughout the late ‘90s and early 2000s in South Australia, Stuart brought with him a wealth of knowledge and experience to then develop Thousand Candles.
“We started in 2010 when we purchased the property, which had an established vineyard there and it was really about improving what was already there,” he said.
“A lot of focus was on soil health and rebuilding the health and balance of the soil through natural inputs, increasing soil biodiversity and organic material content.”
Ensuring everything Thousand Candles does to produce wine is holistic and beneficial to all systems, Stuart said is the philosophy he and his team work towards.
“The basis of it is to make wines that are unique to our vineyard and our sight, which encompasses a holistic approach.
“It’s the vinyard, the surrounding area, bushland, the climate, even the microclimate, our property is located in a unique part of the valley and we really want to express what that site gives us.”
Stuart said as far as awards go it is very humbling to be nominated, as well as it being a great recognition of the team’s effort to produce climate conscious wines.
Receiving the dark horse nomination, Emilian winemaker and co-founder Robin Querre said it is not only a wonderful boost as a small batch winemaker but for the entire region.
Having grown up in the south western wine region of France in the historical village of Saint Emilion, Robin was influenced by his surroundings and family connection to story, wine and history.
Bringing his own family to Australia seven years ago, Robin was able to acquire a pre-loved vineyard to start producing his own wine and so Emilian was born.
“We try to connect where we are coming from and wine means a lot in our culture, it’s not just an alcoholic beverage, it follows all the seasons and it’s working with people to have a sense of place and community,” he said.
Managing such a different climate where the grapes have incredible fruit expression but less structure and texture, Robin said oftentimes it can be an experiment.
“2020, it was very cold and a very long season so the vines were brighter but they had depth as well and a lot of fruit expressions.
“So every year we don’t know what we’re going to make. It’s just about allowing the purest expression.”
Hand picking each grape and being able to select every element in the early stages allows Robin to experiment with texture and depth depending on the season’s climate.
Any sort of recognition, Robin said, is of course nice, particularly because it gives him the certainty that people are enjoying the way he creates wine and provides confidence to the stakeholders who believe in his vision.
Wanting to one day be able to pass on the tradition of winemaking to his daughter, Robin said it’s more than just a product, it’s a legacy, a story and human connection, as well as a responsibility to the earth to leave it better than they found it.
The Halliday Wine Companion Awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday 2 August.
