Vignerons Schmolzer and Brown

Winemaker/viticulturist Tessa Brown graduated from CSU with a degree in viticulture in the late 1990s, and undertook postgraduate winemaking studies at Adelaide Uni in the mid-2000s. Her self-description of being 'reasonably peripatetic' covers her winemaking in Orange in '99, and Canberra, SA, Rioja, Strathbogie Ranges and Central Otago before joining Kooyong and Port Phillip Estate in '08. She and architect partner Jeremy Schmolzer have kept an eye on North East Victoria for a number of years, and in '09 Mark Walpole showed them a property that he described as 'the jewel in the crown of the GI'. When it came onto the market unexpectedly in '12, they were in a position to jump. The property (named Thorley) was a 20ha cleared property; they began planting chardonnay and shiraz in Oct '14, and have also planted riesling and nebbiolo. By sheer chance, just across the road from Thorley was a tiny vineyard, a bit over 0.4 hectares, with dry-grown pinot and chardonnay around 20 years old. When they realised it was not being managed for production, they struck up a working relationship with the owners, getting the vineyard into shape, and made their first (very good) wines in '14. JAMES HALLIDAY