Not many people can say that by planting a vineyard they will virtually treble the entire production of a well-known viticultural area, yet viticulturist Michael Murtagh can. His Murtagh of Rutherglen prospectus, which has been very well subscribed over the last three years, is expected to produce around 4,000 tonnes from its 340 ha of irrigated vineyard, adding rather substantially to Rutherglen’s present production of around 2,200 tonnes. The new vineyard, which is three years old in parts and is still to harvest a grape, is largely planted to shiraz and cabernet sauvignon, with some muscat and tokay, plus several small 5 ha parcels of interesting varieties such as viognier, marsanne, sangiovese, durif, nebbiolo, tempranillo and mourvedre. Its fruit is largely contracted to Southcorp and Orlando, while 50 ha has been reserved for the company’s own Mount Athos label, which will be primarily built around the two white grapes, plus the alternative red varieties and blends of them with shiraz. Small parcels will also end up in Garry Crittenden’s excellent ‘i’ range of Italian varietals. Murtagh’s scheme raised $54,000 per hectare from a wide range of investors. His view is that ‘if you are investing in a viticultural business there are some things you must have and a contract is one of them’. He also says you must have ownership of the project in the end. ‘Everybody knows what it costs to set up a hectare of vineyard, so people can look at the costs. We have a twelve-year lease and management agreement to run these vineyards. There are sensible developments out there, but there are stupid ones as well. Investors have to look past the deductions and see what you own at the end.’ Mount Athos, whose first wines will be vintaged in 2001, is the name of the land on which the development’s winery will be built on, an old vineyard for Mount Opha which was under vine until the early 1960s and originally planted around the turn of the century. The winery will act as a contract processing facility able to handle around 1,500 tonnes this vintage of the vineyard’s own fruit, most of which will is allocated to Southcorp. Its projected maximum capacity will be 3,000 tonnes. Nick Butler is the Mount Athos winemaker and a partner in the wine production business. He’s also a director for Bottle Green, a UK-based wine operation which targets unusual combinations of country and variety to make and import into the UK market. Naturally, these links should kick-start Mount Athos’ introduction to UK consumers. A particularly well-travelled flying winemaker, Butler has worked as a winemaker and project manager for wineries and vineyards all over the world, in places as diverse as southern France, post-communist Hungary, Baden Baden, the Rheinfalz and the Rheinhessen in Germany, Soave in Italy, northern Spain, Chile, Argentina and Portugal. He’s also worked at Domain Chandon in the Yarra Valley and is looking forward to doing the sort of thing he does all over Europe in Australia.
