For almost 20 years Robert has been a wine buyer in Australia. In the course of his work he’s dealt with many of the top growers in the classic regions, and he’s gleaned a lot of their knowledge. This led him to develop an obsessive interest in the kinds of places and practices that lead to the world’s greatest wines. This obsession spurred him to want to put this knowledge into practice. After extensive research with his partner Kate, the couple discovered a site in Bullengarook, a small hamlet in the Macedon Ranges of Victoria in 2011 and embarked on this project. The name for it is inspired by the original inhabitants, the Wurundjeri people, who named the place Warekilla (Place of Changing Winds).

The vineyard is situated at 500m above sea level, and the ancient soils here are riddled with quartz, quartzite, and sandstone. Overall, the property is 33 hectares, but only a small part of this is vineyard. Significantly, tor Australia, the climate here is certainly cool, with large diurnal variations, and rainfall of 700-900 mm.

The Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines were planted between 2012 and 2018 here, at an unusual planting density ranging from 12,000 to 33,000 vines per hectare. To give you some idea of how uncommon this practice is, the typical planting densities in Australia are 1500-3000 vines per hectare, and in Burgundy, which we normally think of high-density cultivation, the vines are a metre apart with a metre between rows, around 10,000 plants per hectare. The logic behind this high density planting is to force the vines roots to go down, making the vines pump from the subsoil, and they reduce their yields significantly. They have also developed a system of viniculture around these high-density vines: organic management, no synthetic chemicals, dry growing, and manual labor-intensive cultivation. This model is designed to produce wines of the highest possible quality and the maximum expression of place, most of the work are done by hand, and this practice is far more labor and time-consuming and expensive than a conventional vineyard.

In addition to the estate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines, the team at Place of Changing Winds also craft Roussane and Syrah based wines with fruit acquired from growers vineyards: Harcourt is located on the foothills of Mt Alexander just a one-hour drive away from the estate, and planted with Marsanne, Rousanne and Syrah on east-facing plots. Heathcote is a single vineyard on the east-facing slopes of Colbinabbin in the northern Mount Camel Range, the site here contains the famous ‘Cambrian soils, a red dirt made up of eroded basalt over limestone. These 'grower wines' are made with the same care and deft touch as the estate selections and represent incredible value.