THE Hunter Valley is renowned for its family wine brands and a new, especially familial one has just made its debut.
The John Wallace brand is the creation of rising star winemaker Richard Done, 40, and it has launched with 2021 vintage wines called the Maggie White and the Juju Red.
That may not seem familial, but Done's full name is Richard John Wallace Done. John and Wallace were the first names of his two grandfathers and Maggie and Judith (Juju) were his grandmothers.
In the army it's said every private has a field marshal's baton in his backpack and in wine most winemakers nurture an ambition for their own brand. John Wallace is the baton in the Done kitbag and it's a sideline to his day job as winemaker for Bimbadgen.
The son of a Tamworth accountant, Done's early career path was in Sydney hospitality venues after gaining a Hotel School bachelor's degree. That and travel overseas confirmed a love of wine which led to a Melbourne University master's degree in wine science and viticulture.
From there he came to the Hunter in 2008 to be mentored by two of our finest winemakers - Ian Scarborough and Andrew Thomas.
For four years he was a cellar hand and assistant winemaker at Scarborough wines, then from 2012 to 2016 assistant winemaker with "Thommo". During that time Done won the 2015 Alasdair Sutherland Scholarship, giving him entry to the Australian Wine Research Institute Advanced Wine Assessment Course and a Sydney Wine Show place as an associate judge.
From 2012 to 2017 he served as Hunter's Dream winemaker then took up his current post at Bimbadgen in 2017 and has brought such recent successes as a 2020 Hunter Valley Winer Show best other white variety trophy with the Bimbadgen 2019 Vermentino, and 2019 Sydney Wine Show gold medals with the 2019 Palmers Lane Semillon and Bimbadgen 2019 Signature Semillon.
Done says his aim with John Wallace is to offer relaxed wines that people can "just slurp and have fun with". The 2021 Maggie White is a blend of semillon from John Quayle's Denman Winbirra Estate vines, vermentino from Roxburgh vineyard, chardonnay from the Upper Hunter and pinot gris from the Hilltops Region at Young.
The 2021 Juju Red he describes as a nouveau-style shiraz, 15 per cent from McLaren Vale and 85 per cent from the Hordern family's Pyramid Hill vineyard on the banks of the Goulburn River, near Denman. Buy online at johnwallacewines.com.au.
WINE REVIEWS by JOHN LEWIS
JUICY JUJU SHIRAZ
THE frisky John Wallace Wines 2021 Juju Shiraz and 2021 Maggie White are both on johnwallacewines.com.au. The red has 13.7% alcohol, ruby hues and aromatic mixed berry scents. Juicy raspberry flavour features on the front palate, cherry, quince jelly, spice and Satsuma plum meld on the middle palate and the finish has savoury tannins. PRICE: $25. DRINK WITH: lamb kebabs. AGEING: four years. RATING: 4.5 STARS
MULTI-MIX MAGGIE
SHINING green-tinted straw in the glass and with tropical fruit salad aromas, the John Wallace Wines 2021 Maggie White mixes semillon, vermentino, chardonnay and pinot gris. It shows passionfruit front-palate flavour, the middle palate has pear, lemon curd, sherbet and gunmetal characters and slatey acid refreshes at the finish. PRICE: $25. DRINK WITH: prawn spring rolls. AGEING: two years. RATING: 4 STARS
REFRESHING CHANDON
BASED on Whitlands Plateau, Strathbogie Ranges and Yarra Valley chardonnay, thisrefreshing Chandon Non-Vintage Blanc de Blancs is pale straw and has fine, persistent bubbles and pear and nougat scents. Crisp grapefruit flavour shows on the front palate, apple, quince, almond and cinnamon on the middle and steely acid at the finish. PRICE: $25. DRINK WITH: hors d'oeuvres. AGEING: six years.RATING: 4.5 STARS
