The Woodfired wines have a true sense of place and an identity defined by their origins. Shiraz and Cabernet from the ancient, dry soils of the Heathcote region in central Victoria.
They represent the unique geography, climate and growing conditions of this famous region, and their elemental, brooding personalities are the perfect compliment to the universal style of cooking as old as time itself
Before any wine was grown there, the Heathcote region became world famous for the discovery of Gold and the ensuing Gold Rush. Between 1850 and 1900 more Gold was found in Heathcote and the surrounding district of Bendigo than anywhere else in the world.
This is an important element of the Heathcote story because it tells us about the geography and the soils of the region. Geologically, the Heathcote region is ancient. There is no lush, arable land for farming. It is hard, unforgiving and dry with soils of rock and mineral.
The majority of soil under vine is Cambrian – strikingly red and deep, with pockets of limestone here and there. The calcium rich, dark red soils are made up of weathered “greenstone” and are prized for their water retention capabilities, while the small patches of limestone can keep vines cooler than their Cambrian neighbors
The unique red soils are the defining characteristic of Heathcote though. Strangely, they are very good at holding water, so the small amount of rainfall the region receives stays in the soil. Small, concentrated grapes are the result, and they make rich, concentrated wines.
Heathcote wines are defined by their inky depth of colour, and deep, dark, complex fruit and intense flavours.
Heathcote is often referred to as a winemaking paradox. Seemingly impossible but capable of extraordinary wines of unique personality
Winemaker Steve Webber has been making wines for almost half a century and has a special love of the Heathcote region. He describes what makes the Woodfired wines special and how he nurses them from grape to glass.
Heathcote wines have a few unique flavour elements. There are hints of the mediterranean shrubs called garigue that grow in the dry parts of those regions, subtle hints of fennel and licorice or star anise. The palate of Heathcote wines has a particular grittiness, result of both the fruit and the special tannin structure. You can even find the faintest suggestion of vintage port aromas and background notes of Violets.
My favourite description is five spice, that blend of fennel, star anise, sichuan pepper, cinnamon and cloves
Picking is typically February. I think it’s a really unique region. The climate is tough and the summers are hot. But the soil is unique. It retains water and allows the grapes to ripen for a longer than expected time. We pick the fruit ripe at 15-15.5 baume and it can move to that level and beyond in a 24hr period, so the timing there is very very important.
We do what we call 2 and 12, 12 tonnes of berries and two tonnes of whole bunches (which includes the stalks and stems). We don’t crush the fruit, we just let it start fermenting on its own with skins whole, doing what we call “pumping“ when you take the juice from the bottom and pump it back on top... and repeat....for 10-14 days. We can extract incredible colour and flavour but ensure that we’re gentle. We have to be gentle, we want to keep these tannins relaxed, we don’t want them to become too big.
Yes. Definitely. These are big wines. They start out a little angry and we have to let them calm down. They are already so full of flavour that we don’t want too much oak flavour so we use only 10-15% new oak. The rest is old oak (2-3yr old barrels), mostly 225 - 500L barrels but we use some big 2,500L barrels as well. The barrels are a living thing. They breathe and along the way they help to soften the wine. Finally, after 9-12 months we are ready to bottle. The beauty of the Heathcote wine is that it has a naturally higher pH level than other wines that gives it that special softness and roundness.
All of Australia has a connection to the first peoples who have been a part of the land for tens of thousands of years. The Heathcote region belongs to the Dja Dja Wurrung people whose land comprises what is now known as central Victoria.
The most unique part of Heathcote from a winemaking point of view is its special Volcanic soil, blood red and mineral rich.
The Dja Dja Wurrung people tell the story of how these soils came to be in their tale of two feuding Volcanoes.
A long, long time ago, long before anyone but the Traditional People walked our Country, our lands, rivers, mountains and animals alike, all had magical life. They had personalities, purpose, speech and they could think for themselves. This is a story of two volcanoes named Tarrengower and Lalgambook. Tarrengower in the Dja Dja Wurrung means to be big and heavy and indeed he was just that; big, bold, wise and a very proud old volcano who had become very tired throwing out rocks and lava and preferred to sit humbly watching over the plains.
Another volcano called Lalgambook was a young, loud and cheeky volcano that started to challenge old Tarrengower’s wisdom and authority, and began grumbling and building up anger towards the old volcano. But Tarrengower, being the wise old volcano that he was, decided he should just try to ignore this cheeky little volcano. Lalgambook grew even angrier that Tarrengower wasn’t acknowledging his threats and started to put on a display of smoke, ash and brimstone to impress the land and animals who were also watching, but this didn’t intimidate the wise old Tarrengower. Instead he just laughed at Lalgambook. Lalgambook became so frustrated that he began to throw large rocks at Tarrengower who grumbled with annoyance at this cheeky volcano and Tarrengower now began to taunt young Lalgambook by telling him he wasn’t very strong at all because the rocks couldn’t reach him.
Lalgambook exploded with great fury, spurting out lava and smoke high into the sky and hurled gart gart in Tarrengower’s direction, but still could not reach him. This caused Lalgambook to completely blow his core!
Tarrengower’s anger eased and he just grumbled at this cheeky little volcano who was now just coughing and spluttering with no energy left at all.
All the rocks thrown by Lalgambook at Tarrengower can still be seen today and have formed what is known in the present day as the Guilford Plateau where the Jaara people would perform ceremonies on the Bora grounds also known as Yapene.
As told by Justice B Nelson – Dja Dja Wurrung, Jaara.
Today, the rich red Volcanic soils created by this feud are the source of some of Australia’s most concentrated, rich and intoxicating wines.
Over time the Woodfired wines have won a host of awards
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