keeping abress of the booz
Dedicated to chickens, in touch with the earth, the Bress winery is luring the lifestyle set down the Calder quicker than you can say cheers.
Photographer: David Field
- Sue Turpie Harcourt’s reputation is built on the fruits of its labor and wine and cider producer, Bress, is making the most of all the region has to offer.
the animals and the climate. I got married in 2000 and my wife Lynne (Jensen) said, ‘well, why don’t we make some booze for ourselves’.”
At the helm of Bress operations is Adam Marks, who enjoys a joke or two hundred. But underneath the sharp tongue and quick wit is a man dedicated to his craft. For Adam, Bress winery marries many of his passions – wine, good food, chickens and a love of Mother Nature and all she provides. Adam has spent 20 years in the wine industry, working throughout Australia and Europe. The move to become an independent winemaker happened when Adam found he had become “disenchanted” with large company winemaking.
It was in 2001 that Adam and Lynne found the site for their winery; a property on the Calder Highway.
“I was working in Burgundy and Beaujolais in ‘96, and I’ve always bred chickens and there’s a town in the east of France called Bourg Nbresse which produce the finest eating chickens in the world...I thought to myself as I was becoming more and more disenchanted, that if we ever make booze for ourselves I’m going to dedicate it to these chooks. The way they go about preparing them for market is just amazing. It’s all very traditional, family focused, a real respect for
“And subscribing to French ideals we thought that one region can’t be all things to the wines we want to make, we made pinot noir from the Yarra Valley, then we moved to Perth in 2002 and made sauvignon blanc from Margaret River and then Heathcote shiraz. I think Heathcote is this country’s finest shiraz-producing region for the styles we want to make. And wine makers are a bunch of egotistical freaks – I being one of them. But we beat to a particular drum and that’s what we do. Everything we make here is quite French inspired. “We were renting floor space in friends’ wineries and buying everything in so we knew we needed a home. Then we happened across this.” Adam and co are biodynamic farmers steering clear of pesticides and the likes, using compost and mulch to build up organic matter. ➤ 63