Earlier this year Moorilla Estate made headlines for the worst reason imaginable when its young winemaker, Jason Winter, was killed during the Port Arthur massacre. Since then the company has fought hard to regroup and under new general manager Tim Goddard, looks finally set to reassert itself in the premium marketplace with a new label, a new direction and a new winemaker. As a premium wine label Moorilla Estate has experienced as devastating a recent run of luck as you could imagine. Difficulties within the Alcorso family, which pioneered and operated the company culminated in its entering into receivership in May 1995. It was then purchased by a consortium of Hobart businessmen. Then, in the middle of one of the most difficult of recent vintages, the company lost its winemaker. Tim Goddard was one of the consortium’s first appointments and he in turn had selected a new team around Jason Winter as winemaker. Goddard had become a good friend of Winter’s through their joint involvement in tasting courses designed to get them each a crack at the title of Master of Wine. The 1996 vintage was as difficult as they come; late and damp after a wet, cool summer. Tim Goddard says the company entered a ‘fairly ordinary time’ when mid-way through, Jason Winter was tragically killed. At least the vintage was similarly mean in nearby vineyards, so several local winemakers had enough time to kill to offer their assistance to help process the remainder of Moorilla’s crush. One was Alain Rousseau, a young Frenchman with four generations of winemaking in his veins, who was able to take leave from a very quiet vintage at Domaine A in Coal River. Rousseau had been in Tasmania for four years and was employed as vineyard manager and assistant winemaker at the Domaine A/Stoneys Vineyard. When Tim Goddard nationally advertised the position of winemaker at Moorilla, he applied. Goddard says he was the clear-cut choice for the job and offered him the job in August this year. Moorilla is finally able to focus again on its original gameplan under its new owners. It is to develop a new image and marketing plan, new labelling and packaging. The company is looking to consolidate its own vineyard resources and grape supply and will possibly increase its production by sourcing other premium grapes. The new label, shortly to appear on the shelves, reflects a link with the previous ownership, but suggests a clear, clean-cut change all the same. Moorilla’s unusual bottle shape, which plays havoc in my wine cellar, is to be retained. Goddard is keen to release two wines which were already in barrel when the company changed hands. Both were worked on by Jason Winter, after whom one, a Merlot 1994, is to be named. A merlot fanatic, Winter’s CV included a spell at Chateau Petrus in Pomerol, the Holy Grail of Merlot, and he was enthusiastic at the prospect of using this fleshy, succulent wine with its hints of undergrowth and briar, to establish a strong following for the variety at Moorilla Estate. The Jason Winter Merlot 1994 will be released in early November, at a retail price in the high thirties. It will be accompanied by the Reserve Pinot Noir 1994, priced in the high twenties. Tim Goddard says that Moorilla is shortly to resurrect the St Matthias brand as second label. A pinot noir, chardonnay and riesling sporting a modern label based on the old St Matthias design, will be the first of the mid-priced early-drinking wines introduced under the brand. Goddard believes the forthcoming 1995 wines from Moorilla Estate reflect a very good all-round vintage in Tasmania. While they may lack the concentration and power of the 1994s, they reveal attractive flavours and are perhaps more elegant than the rich and robust 1994 crop. Moorilla Estate now owns around half the vineyards it uses. The Moorilla Estate vineyard in Hobart produces around 30 tonnes from its 3.5 ha, while the 9ha of St Matthias vineyard in the Tamar Valley can crop around 100 tonnes. Three other Tamar growers are responsible for the balance. All things being equal, Moorilla Estate anticipates a crop of around 260 tonnes, equating to around 20,000 cases in 1997. They deserve that break, at the very least. Finally, Tim Goddard says that the support from all quarters concerning the Jason Winter Appeal, which included an auction conducted by Andrew Caillard MW of Langton’s Fine Wine Auctions, exceeded expectations. ‘The support from the Australian wine community was a real tribute to the chap and will give his family and his son some sort of a future’, he said. Amen to that.
