CLUBHOUSE | LIQUID ASSETS
MAN OF THE MOMENT ALI NICOL TALKS TO WINEMAKER DEAN HEWITSON, WHOSE PASSION AND FORWARD-THINKING APPROACH TO AUSTRALIAN WINE HAS MADE HIM ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S MOST SOUGHT-AFTER PRODUCERS.
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he legendary Australian wine critic James Halliday once said that Dean Hewitson makes “wines with flair” and obviously there is a reflection of Dean himself mirrored in each and every bottle of wine he makes. Outgoing in nature and a true lover of the great outdoors, Dean has made a mark for himself as an accomplished winemaker over the years spent toiling in the vineyards firstly on one of Australia’s great wineries, Petaluma, and now for himself at Hewitson. But it all could have been completely different. “I actually got accepted in to study film producing," Dean tells me as we sip one of his Old Garden Mourvedre’s in Hong Kong’s Upper House Hotel bar at Café Grey. “But then I got to the dancing and singing auditions and I thought maybe I’m in the wrong field here as I can’t dance or sing! So I looked down the list of options and winemaking was there." The world can now breathe a collective sigh of relief that, even as it will never know if Dean was to be the next Baz Luhrmann, at least the international circle of wine lovers can feel blessed that his tone deafness and two left feet steered him in the direction to make some of Australia’s greatest wines. “It all started at an early age,” says Dean. “My family had a couple of friends who had a very small vineyard that got pulled up on the vine pull, but prior to that as a kid I was exposed early on to wine and without that I would have probably never heard of the wine industry." These days, Dean works on some of the oldest vineyards, and in some cases the oldest vineyards in the world. His internationally acclaimed Mourvedre, of which we taste a vertical from 1998 to 2010, is crafted from the oldest Mourvedre vines on the planet which were planted in 1853 by Friedrich Koch and are still owned by the family that originally planted the vines. These vines are all pre-Phylloxera and Dean himself admits that having the family that has 30
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owned them for seven generations farm the Asked if having worked abroad – Dean has worked in Beaujolais, Provence, land for him is a good thing. “This is a perfect Bordeaux and Oregon – has allowed him to define his own winemaking style, Dean arrangement because after so many generations exclaims: “Oh there’s no question about that. You’ve got to travel if you’re a winemaker, they know more about the land than I ever would." so if you’re from the old world you’ve got to go to the new world and if you’re from But it wasn’t easy getting his hands on these the new world you’ve got to go to the old world, just to understand it. It helps you to now 160-year-old grape-producing understand what you’ve got, just hearing and reading vines. “I wanted to start my own business about it isn’t enough, you’ve got to go and experience it “I actually got so literally went around, saw these old and realise that they do certain things for certain reasons." vineyards and knocked on the growers Let’s consider the old and the new world. Australia accepted in to study doors," he says. “With this one in particular, has the oldest vines in the world but is regarded as new film producing. the Mourvedre, he [owner Leon Koch] world, I put to Dean. Surely it must annoy Australian But then I got to did not know me from a bar of soap – I winemakers to be considered old world when you are got a lot of "no’s" also along the way – but quite clearly one of the older wine producing countries the dancing and he said OK and he gave me a go I guess." of the modern day? singing auditions Eight rows of this rare and unique Dean’s reply is simple and enthusiastic. “It is true we and I thought maybe do make wine in the ‘new world’ but we have the oldest planting remain at Rowland Flat and from these vines is where Dean makes his vineyards in the world – it’s kind of an oxymoron if you I’m in the wrong much lauded single varietal wine called like. The fact that the Barossa Valley has the oldest Shiraz, field here as I can’t Old Garden. Geologists have confirmed Cabernet, Mourvedre, Grenache, Semillon and Riesling dance or sing!” that the Old Garden sits on what was the vineyards in the world means that we are in fact older bottom of an ancient lake, once part of than the ‘old world’! I think that message is the one that the Para River. The secret to the vines longevity is we need to highlight – Australia has the oldest vineyards in the world." their extremely long roots burrowing over 30 feet And without these great old vineyards there would be no Old Garden Mourvedre. down into the prehistoric ground. It must be said, these wines have aged gracefully and, tasting through the different “The roots of these vines are so deep that even vintages with Dean you can see the passion he has for each wine. “There is a definite on the hottest day, while every other vine in the and obvious variation in each vintage due to the climatic conditions of each year," Barossa Valley has shut down, the Old Garden’s Dean says. “The cooler years produce wines with more elegance whilst the warmer leaves are bright and perky, tracking the sun as if years give you more intense and powerful wines.” each leaf is a radar," says Dean. When push comes to shove, Australia may have a reputation for making massAlthough the Old Garden is a great wine from produced, easy drinking wines with little to no complexity, but this certainly isn’t great old vines, it still takes a great craftsman to craft the case with Hewitson’s wines and most definitely not the case with the Old such a respected wine. Dean has an undergraduate Garden Mourvedre. As Dean heads off to Shanghai for the next leg of his world tour degree from Roseworthy, the internationally celebrating the 160th birthday of these terrific Mourvedre vines, one is left to ponder renowned centre for excellence in dry land whether were there not more winemakers with the passion and perseverance of Dean agriculture and part of the University of Adelaide. Hewitson, would not a lot more Australian wines be up there with the best wines from Not content with just that, Dean then attained the rest of the winemaking world? his Masters degree from California’s UC Davis, the Hewitson wines are exclusively imported and distributed in Hong Kong by pinnacle of America’s centre for studying oenology Kedington Wines. Contact: info@kedwines.com; (852) 2898 9323. and winemaking. HKGOLFER.COM
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