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Ochota Barrels + Clo tasting this Saturday 3-6PM + Cloud Project

by Annandale Cellars

Haven’t seen you in a while…
Where have you been?
Hello stranger…
Do you still work here?
You never promote your own wines…

Just a few of the ways I’m greeted by many of you these days. It’s nice to be missed, right?


Well, I’ve been busy. Busy growing grapes and making wine under my label - clo. 


I started producing wine the year after I graduated from a degree in Wine Science. It was 10 years ago - time flies! It started as a project buying a small parcel or two of grapes each vintage to make in the garage while balancing the running of our bottle shop. It soon grew.


The project moved from the garage to a real winery in Canberra. Here, I was able to process larger parcels of fruit from surrounding regions – Canberra District, Tumbarumba and Orange – with 2022 being my biggest harvest to date, producing around 7000 bottles. A drop in the ocean, but no longer a drop in the universe.

In 2022, 6 wines were produced under clo:

clo tumbarumba 2022 / chardonnay / tumbarumba
clo orange 2022 / chardonnay / orange
clo oxygen 2022 / pinot noir / tumbarumba
clo amber 2022 / pinot grigio / tumbarumba
clo hello 2022 / cabernet franc blend / orange
clo bordo 2022 / cabernet sauvignon / orange

How are they made?

I started making wine because I was captivated by the incredible and unique natural process of fermentation to make a delicious drink. The more I learned along the
way, the more I appreciated these natural processes in other areas – beginning in the vineyard and finishing in the cellar – before, during and after fermentation.


All the clo wines are produced with respect for the natural process to reflect the natural
surroundings. I’m a purist.


Natural fermentations
No additions
Only old barrels or neutral vessels
Long elevage (18 months)
Unfined and unfiltered
No sulfur added at any stage


As much as it’s important for me to make wine with respect to nature, it’s equally important to make balanced, stable and interesting wines. Sourcing good grapes from good farmers on good sites was the first step, being able to grow my own grapes was the next step. All the great
producers in the world farmed their own grapes and made their own wine. They were vignerons, and I wanted to be one.

Enter Sunnyside. I was visiting Tumbarumba a fair bit between 2020 and 2021 when I was told about a small vineyard on the outskirts of town. The vineyard was planted around 1987 (one of the first in the region) but had been abandoned for the past decade at least. The grass was
long, the vines barely alive or visible, and the pestilent blackberries had taken over. Needless to
say, Sunnyside was a mess! 

So, I did what any loving vigneron would do - I took to Sunnyside with a chainsaw. Cutting all the vines back to stumps. Why? To make way for new growth and new beginnings. For the next two years the vines grew (slowly) and in 2023 produced their first grapes in over a decade. A
whole 400kg… welcome to farming. [this wine is due for release in mid-2024].


I farm Sunnyside with the upmost respect for nature. Organic sprays on the foliage to protect from mildews, vermicast (worm wee) preparations for the soils, mulch added undervine, and no pesticides, no herbicides and no inorganic fertilisers. All the work is done by hand and foot,
with the help of a push-mower, whipper-snipper and a few hand-tools. It’s physically demanding, but it’s worth it for the soils and the fruit.

I’ve spent a lot of time away from our beloved store. It’s always been a difficult balance between shop and winemaking. The store is in Annandale, the winery is 3 hours away in Canberra, and the grapes are in Tumbarumba and Orange, a mere 4 and 5 hour drive,
respectively.


None of this would be possible without Pete at the helm of Annandale Cellars. His dedication, hard work and reliability is unparalleled, and I’m forever grateful to be able to live out my dream while knowing the shop is in good hands.


Now that you know where I’ve been… come and taste the fruits of my labour at Annandale Cellars this Saturday from 3-6pm.


I won’t be a stranger – and neither should you.
Cheers


Chris - Clo

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Cloud Project

If you attended the last two Christmas wine fairs, then you surely got a chance to meet Doug and try his wines. Doug is a very memorable character and one the most positive people I've met during my time in this industry. His son, Sam worked here for many years so we share a strong connection. We've had the pleasure of hosting Doug here for two years now and his wines have been the clear favourite for those who attended, and I am not surprised. They are a modern take on weird and wonderful varieties that are farmed organically from several vineyards in Riverland, South Australia that are so appropriate for that time of year.

Doug's been on the retail side of wine for many years and progressively switched sides to winemaking, starting in 2018 with his first vintage produced in his garage in Brisbane, where he is based. His first wines produced under the Wedded To The Weather label were in-store when I started, and even then, they were a big hit. He has now graduated to sharing a space with several up-and-coming winemakers in the Barossa Valley, and the wines have never looked better.

His love of wine and thirst to learn more about the process have blossomed into one of my favorite new produces. All his wines are well-tuned to today's tastes, thanks to his time in retail. They are lighter, fresher takes on traditional and unorthodox varieties that embrace a wide range of winemaking techniques. This release is heavy on the Pet Nats, Orange wines, and Chilled Reds.

He's always been a fan of old-school Australian Sparkling Reds, so he leans into that with his red Pet Nats, using varieties that typically produce richer, fuller-bodied wines and handles them with a softer touch. For the whites, it's a focus on aromatic varieties, with varying time left on skins building texture and further enhancing the aromatic characters.

His wines are all unfiltered and fermented with wild yeast as he prefers the unpredictability that offers but still keeps everything clean in the bottle.

These are perfect wines for the current silly season as they are fun, flavorful, crowd-pleasing and would go well with Christmas company and cuisine. - Pete L

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Ochota Barrels

Summer Release

There's no doubt for anybody today that Summer is upon us and one of our most exciting summer deliveries has just arrived... Ochota Barrels!

Like the spring release, the summer release from Ochota Barrels has a habit of dropping at the perfect time each year. The days are longer, the days are much warmer and we start to see people seeking lighter wines too.

Many of you will know the wines of Ochota Barrels, the story and also the collective sadness surrounding Taras's passing. His partner in life and wine, Amber is keeping their dream alive, continuing to produce the wines we all love and it's with great excitement that we can offer you this year's summer release from Ochota Barrels.

The quantities are very limited and we won't be able to get more so if these are on your wishlist for the year then this is your chance.

 

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