Australia’s first ’boutique’ vineyard and winery, Lake’s Folly, is for sale. Founded in 1963 by the larger-than-life figure of Surgeon-turned-winemaker-turned-sensory analyst Dr Max Lake, Lake’s Folly is an icon in this country’s wine industry. Throughout most of the last two decades in the hands of Max’s son, Stephen, Lake’s Folly has cemented its place as one of our premier wineries, if perhaps not always one of our best understood. From the outset Max Lake was adamant that he could create Hunter cabernet sauvignon of world class, maturing it with the use of small oak cooperage, still radical in the 1960s. Lake’s Folly has also produced chardonnay since 1974, making it one of the pioneers of what has since become our most popular white variety. There’s now petit verdot, shiraz and merlot in what has become the cabernet blend, and I have developed through my years of tasting a profound respect for the artful crafting of what has remained for three decades, if unfashionably in recent years, a supple, elegant wine of subtlety and finesse. The chardonnay, unlike the finer Tyrrell’s Vat 47, is a wine of great character, concentration and exuberance, brightly flavoured with ripe stonefruits and citrus. Like its red stablemate, it is a fine performer in the cellar. I wish the Lake family happiness and success in its next challenge. Also for sale in the Hunter are two other vineyards, the relatively recent Calais Estate near Pokolbin and the long-established Mount View Estate, presently owned and operated by the Tulloch family and a site considered by many to have excellent potential.
