Winemaking

First off, it's not just me behind this. It's a bit of a father and son collaboration in the winery.

I'm just the crazy guy with ideals and ideas, and a lot of elbow grease.

My father, David Crothers of Brumfield Winery is just as big a part of it all. Being able to call on 20+ years of experience winemaking comes in handy.

As far as the actual winemaking, it's not biodynamic, it's not organic. I suppose it's just respectful, and that brings it pretty close to both.

The idea being to always make whatever choice is best for the wine, regardless of philosophies, financial reason, equipment limitations, or how labour intensive it is.

Respect for the wine

It sounds wanky, I know.

But it's really all there is to it.

A good grape vine is very good at portraying the uniqueness of it's place and climate. Every effort is made to not interfere with this.

It's already portraying a truth deeper and more complex than anything I could create, and there are enough people out there to appreciate it.

The role of the winery is just to guard the intricacy of what's already there. Look after it through a very volatile stage in it's life, and then bottle it and release it to the world.

You also have this idea in your head, every vintage, of the wine you'd like to make. You need to let go of that pretty quickly, because it's not about that.

Let it be what it will, and that's more than enough.

On Grapes and Vineyards

This is a bit of a weird one for me.

I've noticed over the journey that people come to think of me as making a particular varietal.

Marsanne was the first big one, then Pinot Noir, and I think it'll keep evolving.

Honestly, I don't care a lot about the varietal.

It's a medium to carry the uniqueness of site and year.

Could be Fiano, could be Caberntet Sauvignon.

The most inspiring wines I've ever drank have been Sauvignon Blanc (Didier Dagueneau), Riesling (Clos St Hune) and Pinot Noir (DRC) and Nebbiolo (Gaja). Most grapes are capable of phenomenal things, but we stifle them with ideas of what they're meant to be.

I'm just trying to step back from that.

Let it be the truest expression of itself, and let that be enough.

My job is just nurturing it along the way.

As such, the vineyards vary quite often. Basically the best site I can get access to, I do. This has lead to jumping around a bit between sites, but I think has been worthwhile in the end.

The sites are all Upper Yarra. From memory all have been within a few kilometers of Seville.