Bindi Wines – Macedon Ranges, Victoria
Bindi is widely acknowledged as being on of Australia’s best small producers. It is situated at around 500m altitude in the cool climate of the Macedon Ranges, about an hour’s drive north of Melbourne. The winery is truly “boutique”, even by Burgundian standards, with only 7 hectares of vines, of which 5 hectares are planted with Pinot Noir and 2 hectares with Chardonnay. Total production is never higher than 3,000 cases per vintage.
IN THE VINEYARDS
The vines are tended organically and biodynamically to optimise soil life and the long term health of the vines, although the winery has no desire to be certifi ed as organic. What makes Bindi special are its unique soils – an infertile mix of shattered quartz and volcanic topsoil over a bed of clay and sandstone – and the very high density planting of its vines, with up to 11,300 vines planted per hectare. This is typical of Burgundy but rarely found elsewhere. The resulting grapes produce some of the very fi nest renditions of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in all Australia!
IN THE WINERY
All Bindi’s wines are made as “naturally” as possible, using only indigenous, yeasts for the fermentation. The reds are fermented in small, open-topped vats, whilst the whites ferment in barrel. All wines are left to age for 11 months on their yeast lees in 10 – 20 % new French oak barrels. They are bottled with no fining and minimum filtration. The overriding goal is to capture the individual expression of each terroir in the wines.
ABOUT THE WINEMAKER
Bindi is owned and managed by Michael Dhillon, one of Australia’s most accomplished, perceptive and thoughtful winemakers. Michael has worked at Bindi from its very beginnings in 1988. He is fascinated by the fi nest “terroir” wines of France and Italy and over the years has worked and visited extensively in Burgundy and the Northern Rhone.
PRESS AND AWARDS
Bindi’s wines regularly receive excellent reviews from Jancis Robinson MW and The Wine Advocate, but James Halliday, Australia’s best-respected wine critic, sums their wines up perfectly in his 2020 Wine Companion: “One of the icons of Macedon. The Chardonnay is top shelf, the Pinot Noir as remarkable as Bass Phillip, Giaconda or any of the other tiny-production icon wines. The addition of Heathcote-sourced Shiraz under the Pyrette label confi rms Bindi as one of the greatest small producers in Australia.”
