Former Southcorp Winemaker Now Chasing Clouds at Australia's New Cumulus Winery
Philip Shaw is heading up the rebirth of a wine estate in the Orange district of New South Wales.
Former Southcorp executive winemaker Philip Shaw, who left the Australian giant that produces Penfolds and Rosemount last year, has resurfaced in the New South Wales wine region of Orange. There he is overseeing the new Cumulus Wines, launched from the estate formerly known as Reynolds.
Although Trinchero Family Estates acquired the Reynolds and Little Boomey brands early this year, the Napa Valley-based company had no interest in buying the bankrupt Australian winery's production facility or its 2,225 acres of vineyards, located in the Orange district and other areas of the broad Central Ranges region.
Soon after, Reynolds' remains were purchased by Assetinsure, an Australian insurance underwriter, for a reported A$20 million (roughly US$14.5 million) -- less than half of what the previous owner, Cabonne Ltd., had reported investing in developing the property.
Assetinsure promptly renamed the operation Cumulus and hired Shaw, who is considered one of Australia's leading winemakers, as its CEO. (He was already familiar with the area as he used to make some wines for Rosemount from Orange, and he owns a 123-acre vineyard about 25 miles from Cumulus.) Winemaker Philip Dowell, an Australian who spent the past six years as general manager of Inniskillin in Canada's Niagara Peninsula, recently came on board to run Cumulus' day-to-day operations.
Shaw is enthusiastic about the prospects of the cool-climate Orange district. "This may be the absolute best wine region in Australia, especially for Merlot," said Shaw, adding, "What we're looking for is elegance and finesse." The Orange district comprises the high ground -- at least 600 meters above sea level -- of the extinct Mount Canobolas volcano, and has a wide variety of soil types, including volcanic ash, clays, gravel over shale and terra rossa.
Cumulus will produce three different lines of screw-capped wines, with four bottlings in each range. Its first offering, due to be released within the next few months in the United States, is the Rolling series, priced in the $12 to $15 range. The Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc-Sémillon, Shiraz-Cabernet and Cabernet-Merlot all carry the Central Ranges designation.
Cumulus will also soon introduce the single-varietal Climbing series from the Orange appellation; the Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot and Shiraz are priced in the $17 to $19 range. Eventually, Shaw said, he will produce a high-end line called Chasing Clouds, which will also concentrate on single varietals.
So far, Shaw has sold off most of Reynolds' wine stocks in bulk and sold almost half the vineyard land, keeping 1,250 acres at altitudes of 2,000 feet to 3,500 feet. Renamed Rolling Vineyard, the site is planted largely to Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot, as well as smaller amounts of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.
He also plans to cut the estate's yields, which he says were too high when he came on board for the 2004 vintage. "I couldn't do much about the quality because the grapes were ready to be picked when we took over," he said, "but one of the first things I'll do [for the 2005 vintage] is slash the tonnage by half."
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