6 minute read
Young Gun: Yianni Koutouzis
Yianni Koutouzis
Transforming a region
A lifetime of study brought Yianni Koutouzis to a career in banking, a career that felt hollow. He followed his passion back to his homeland, the banks of the river Murray, to take up his family’s fruit growing business and start a wine label of his own. Harrison Davies spoke with Yianni about his passion for the Riverland region and why he wants to share that.
Yianni Koutouzis is a man on a mission. Sitting on his patio looking don’t even know that a winemaking culture exists there. The Riverland has felt the squeeze of of growing while establishing a new identity of fun and experimentation in winemaking. out over a lush garden, the scenery is juxtaposed by the looming red winegrape glut that’s currently being experienced in the Riverland wine region. The region produces more fruit than any other part of the country and, yet, many COVID-19 restrictions, supply chain disruptions and the loss of the China market more acutely than most other regions in the country. Yianni, however, sees a new future for the region – one that balances the culture “My heart and soul was here in the Riverland, where I grew up and where my parents migrated to from Greece,” he said. “I’m just so passionate about the region, passionate about what we have here; our
I’m just so passionate about the region, passionate about what we have here; our River Murray, our food and our wine and I think it’s a great opportunity to have labels with our GI with Riverland on it.
Yianni Koutouzis
Sixty Eight Roses Syrah
River Murray, our food and our wine and I think it’s a great opportunity to have labels with our GI, with Riverland on it.”
Yianni wants the Riverland to be a name in Australian wine in the same way that we know the Barossa or Margaret River. He wants it to have an identity all of its own and one where people know about all the interesting things happening there.
Finding a way back home
Yianni was raised on the farm he now tends. His family migrated from Greece and began growing fruit in the Riverland alongside many other migrants. The family grew a range of summer fruits like apricots and peaches, what Koutouzis described as “fruit salad”.
They also observed the booming winegrape business in the Riverland and planted several vineyards of vines. They sold their Shiraz and Cabernet to companies like Accolade and the vines they planted 40 years ago are still there. The family wanted Yianni to pursue a higher education and after high school he did a double degree in law and commerce before moving to a career in commercial banking “That wasn’t really for me, it wasn’t giving me the motivation to keep going,” he said.
“I couldn’t hack corporate life anymore and it turned out farming was my destiny. I’ve been running the farm since. “I want to make that initial project that my parents [started after] immigrating here and try and grow it a bit better and bigger and create some awareness about our wine industry here. Soon after coming home and working the farm, the wine bug bit. Yianni started his own label, Sixty Eight Roses, and launched his first release in 2020. In starting his label, he joined a class of winemakers in the region who are experimenting with alternative styles that respond better to the hot summers experienced in the Riverland. He said that he thought diversifying the types of wines coming from the region would help to move the region forward and help to create more of an identity of its own.
“I find that the wine industry is evolving. We have had some issues, obviously here in the Riverland. With grapes and prices in a way we’ve been perceived as a more of a bulk wine sort of region,” he said. “I want to be a part of that evolution where that perception is going to change and where we are already seeing results with great quality wines coming through. “We’re seeing that [alternative varieties] are becoming a lot more popular in the Riverland. Quality pruning and vine management is really important to get
Yianni Koutouzis
that quality also. “I think it’s really important as a collaborative group, small winemakers, to work collaboratively together to try and market our region by doing wine events by attending cities like Melbourne and Sydney and attending good food and wine shows.”
The work he is doing with other small winemakers is part of an effort to communicate that the Riverland is capable of producing high quality grapes. Part of the challenge for the region as well, and the challenge for Yianni, is communicating that there is a winemaking culture in the Riverland. “Even in Adelaide, being a local city, at cellar door fest, people said ‘do you guys actually make wine in the Riverland? Really? Do you grow grapes?’ And I would say, ‘Hello! Like massive, biggest crush in the southern hemisphere,” he explained. “[Other SA wine regions] have got a huge marketing advantage and we don’t have that exposure yet. “My drive and passion is so strong, I really want [the region] to excel and want it to be a bit more competitive in the market rather than being that tall poppy syndrome. I want people to know that we do more than just grow grapes.”
Taking an alternative path
Sixty Eight Roses was met with high praise as soon as it launched. The inaugural 2019 Syrah received several gold awards and his other varietal wines have gotten similarly warm receptions. Yianni wants to take his wines a step further, experimenting with varieties that will work better in the region. “I am looking at a Montepulciano, of course,” he said. “Other ones have a Falanghina; Pecorino will be next year and Fiano, so I’ve got a vineyard that’s about 18 acres. “Now we’re slowly branching out to a
Riverland Uprising
Tempranillo and then Vermentino. “My vision is futuristic, digital. My vision for wine is about trends, about fashion, about now, about what people want and about what’s going to excite people. “I want to be a part of that evolution.” Yianni was also keen to work with a winemaker who is bold enough to experiment and try some new styles. “I’d love to see more techniques. I’m on the search to find a winemaker or somebody else that wants to come to me and is willing to experiment,” he said. “I’m travelling to Europe next year, to go and experience that and see what they’re doing in Italy and Paris and Portugal. I think that’s super important. “What should we be blending? What is the process of winemaking to make a different alternative?”
Yianni sees the future of the Riverland as a region all unto its own. He doesn’t want it to walk away from its grapegrowing roots but he thinks it needs to embrace a new future, on where people express what the region brings to the canon of Australian wine.
Koutouzis and vineyard chicken chaser Truman
