Tasting Notes
The greatest Australian wines I have ever tasted were made by Hunter legend Maurice O’Shea in the 1940s and ’50s. These were blends of Syrah and Pinot, and they have inspired this blend, which we make only in suitable years. This release is a blend of 40% Pinot from our own vines and 60% Syrah from Heathcote and Harcourt. It spent the first year in a mix of large and small oak barrels, mostly neutral, with the last phase of aging in steel tank and 600-litre Stockinger cask. It was bottled at the end of November 2023. The result is a bright, perfumed, juicy wine. Although delicious now, it should certainly age well.
It’s not heavy but there’s impressive intensity of flavour here. It tastes of sheer plum, dark chocolate, roasted nuts and sweet cherry, with woodsy spice and cedarwood characters as part of the veneer. There’s texture, there’s twigs, there’s pure, perfectly ripened fruit, and there’s a firm stamp of integrated tannin. There’s some char to the aftertaste, which is not a distraction and is not a negative. There’s a lot to delve into here. It’s excellent. 95 points. - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
Warekilla. The Wurundjeri name could translate as "Happy Place". Or "Place of Changing Winds".
Robert Walters searched for almost five years trying to find a site for his warekilla. He eventually settled on the place, Bullengarook on the southern foothills of Mount Macedon, to establish Place of Changing Winds. Years of experience in the wine trade and visits to the best sites and winemaking practices around the world all culminated in Rob's decision to put down roots around Macedon. The changing winds create a high diurnal difference in temperature, embraced by the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir fruit. Their vines are grown at extremely high density, ten times the norm, to encourage a community or single body of the plants as they develop their collective canopy, and dig their vines deep through the gravelly soils in search of water and nutrients, anchoring them against the wind. Fruit is low-yielding.
And as is the nature of the wind, Warekilla was not the only place to keep Robert grounded; Place of Changing Winds sources fruit from Heathcote for their two cuvées of Syrah and their Marsanne.
| Product Type | Wine Red Blends |
| Volume | 750ml |
| Country | Australia |
| Region | Victoria |
| Winemaking Practices | Minimal Intervention |
| Vineyard Practices | Organic/Biodynamic |