14th November 2022

“We don’t usually have this much on,” says winemaker Nick Brown, fresh from launching an unconventional wine from one of the vineyards his family owns, and about to plunge into reopening the cellar door and a new restaurant at another. “We’re playing catch-up from the last four years. This hectic pace is a bit abnormal. But it’s fun.”

"The Brown siblings understand that a successful wine business can appeal to both a broad audience of casual consumers and a narrow audience of the wine-obsessed. On one hand, the Browns are making the most of the rich history in the properties they own: All Saints, for example, is home to barrels of ancient, fortified wines dating back more than 100 years, tiny dribbles of which make their way into bottles for limited release with suitably hefty price tags (see review). On the other, they're not afraid to break from tradition to attract younger consumers: the St Leonards range features non-mainstream varieties, such as cabernet franc packaged with colourful modern labels, and a $22 range of fortified in square-sided bottles called HIP SIP."

"In 2015, the siblings opened a wine bar called Thousand Pound in the main street of Rutherglen. The next year, they bought another historic, long-defunct Rutherglen wine property, Mount Ophir, one of the most significant wineries in Australia in the early 20th century. Although a small patch of the original vineyard was replanted (Nick Brown released the first small batch of wine from it last year, for $500 a bottle), the winery building has been repurposed as luxury accommodation and an events space."

"This approach - respecting history, embracing modernity - carries through to the two most recent wine developments at All Saints and St Leonards. Earlier this year, the Browns launched a Museum Release program, offering tiny quantities of mature back-vintage wines from their Family Cellar range - marsanne, shiraz and other one-offs."

"If these wines are aimed at the geek and collector, Brown's newest addition to the St Leonards range is aimed at the natty-wine-loving hipster. Called Marsie, it's a skin-contact blend of the aromatic white variety marsanne and the even-more-aromatic muscat. It's the first release under a new Pilot Project range, designed for wine styles that break the mould in this conservative region."

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St Leonards Pilot Project Marsie 2022:"Lovely skin-contact white: unfiltered, cloudy, hint of peachy pink; marsanne brings freshness and spice with just enough muscat to give fruit weight and perfume"

All Saints Family Cellar Marsanne 2021: "Yes, Marsanne can age beautifully (the Museum release 2008 is delicious), but this latest vintage is so vivacious and bursting with honeysuckle it's irresistible now."

All Saints Museum Muscat: "A blend of muscat with an average age of 100 years, this is staggeringly complex and deep and rich and intense- pure essence of raisins - but also thrillingly vibrant."

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Excerpts were pulled from the November issue of AFR Magazine.You can read the full article online here.