ravenswood canberra australia eileen p kenny

Two years ago I found myself in Sydney on the eve of Rootstockโ€”the phenomenal wine/food/everything great festivalโ€”with an afternoon free, so I popped into Rockpool for a cheeky mac and cheese and a glass of wine. On the list there was a huge range of wines, from wildly pricey Beaujolais all the way to the cheap and easy Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs, but in the middle of this huge list sat a little pocket of nicely priced naturals. It was there that I first tried a spectacular Riesling from Ravensworth winery just outside of Canberra.

Now for those unfamiliar with Australia, Canberra is a region more associated with politicians, art galleries, and memorials than minimal intervention winemaking. But since opening Ravensworth in 2001, ownersย Bryan and Jocelyn Martin have achieved a quiet achiever distinction in Australia’s buzzing wine scene. The brand’s spectacular label art, depicting a fascinating kitchen scene that includes the owners’ cat and a distinctive hatchet, certainly helps. Since trying their wine in Sydney all those years ago, Iโ€™ve been picking up bottles back in Melbourne whenever they cross my path and have been consistently impressed.

ravenswood canberra australia eileen p kenny

Bryan Martin is a fascinating and incredibly accomplished fellow, having formerly made a living as a chef and food writer before moving his primary focus to winemaking. With studies in wine science and viticulture under his belt, heโ€™s been working at the Clonakillaย winery since 2004 and now looks after all their winemaking. He and Jocelyn also tend to their seven-acre vineyard that they started planting out on their own property back in 2000, and Ravensworth wines are made within their own dedicated section of the Clonakilla facilities. Itโ€™s a setup that many a burgeoning natural winemaker would be envious of, with access to great equipment and, most importantly, temperature-controlled fermentation and storage facilities.

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โ€œIโ€™m lucky,” Bryan tells me. “Normally when you start making wine youโ€™re making it out of a tin shed which can be a not-so-great place because they can be a bit hot. So Iโ€™ve always made my wine in here, which means that I can get pretty experimental. Weโ€™ve got a really good lab, so Iโ€™m able to be quite lo-fi but check and test everything regularly.โ€

ravenswood canberra australia eileen p kenny

ravenswood canberra australia eileen p kenny

Where youโ€™d normally youโ€™d find rows and rows of small old oak barrels, Martin gravitates toward large format oak imported from Austria and large concrete pyramids brought over from Verona. With these facilities, heโ€™s able to make a range of wines that sit on a diverse spectrum. The wineries’ specialty are co-fermented white and red wine blends, including a representative Shiraz Viognierโ€”a very popular combination for the regionโ€™s winemakersโ€”all the way to the more experimental “Seven Months,” a Pinot Gris/Riesling/Gewรผrztraminer/Sauvignon blend which spend seven months on skins in concrete before pressing.

At Ravensworthโ€”and in any vineyardโ€”itโ€™s not just the winemaking that creates these delicious products, itโ€™s the viticulture itself. This is a particular area of focus for Ravensworth.

โ€œI got into it because I studied wine science, and knowing what you donโ€™t need has been a journey,” Bryan tells me. “You donโ€™t need all that stuff [cultured yeast and malolactic bacteria], as long as you have attention to detail and good fruit. Growing the fruit is an important thing, and since weโ€™ve changed to organics, honestly the fruit has been amazingโ€”I donโ€™t think weโ€™ve ever had better fruit than the last couple of years. You pick the fruit and come in and make a wine and you know exactly what youโ€™ve put into it, or actually havenโ€™t put into it.โ€

ravenswood canberra australia eileen p kenny

With this in mind, the Martins are currently in the process of submitting plans to council to build winemaking facilities on their land, and intend to eventually only make wine from their own vinesโ€”even if it means downsizing their output significantly.

While I could happily wax poetic about each of the unique wines that Bryan and Jocelyn Martin make for Ravensworth, the winesโ€™ diversity makes it easier to summarise them in a much broader way: theyโ€™re honest, theyโ€™re unique, and theyโ€™re exciting. If you’re a fan of the New Australia, these are must-drink wines, humble regional background be damned. I canโ€™t wait to see where Ravensworth goes next, and to drink as much as I can of it in the years to come.

Ravensworth Winery is located in Canberra, Australia. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Eileen P. Kenny is a Sprudge Media Network contributor based in Melbourne. Read moreย Eileen P. Kenny on Sprudge Wine.

Photos by the author.