Vinteloper Wines

I guess it is pretty obvious by now that I am  a keen advocate of our local artisans and producers, but I don’t limit my enthusiasms to food – I am very fond of a drink, too!

A couple of weeks ago I attended the launch of a new wine label made by an exciting young winemaker who, like so many other noted winemakers before him, is home-grown right here in Adelaide.  While he has been producing for twelve months now, David Bowley recently held the formal launch of his label, Vinteloper Wines, and introduced his newest vintage to the world so I thought I might introduce him to you.

I have had slightly more than a passing interest in wines since I was in my 20’s, but the wine world back then was a much more intimidating place than it is now, being to some extent, class segregated and dominated by frequently stuffy, mature men with a condescending line of jargon.   With an eye to marketing towards a more financial 20-something demographic, the wine industry has banished much of the earlier pretension, simplified labeling and embraced social media.  There is now  an abundance of exciting new young winemakers graduating from oenology courses, competing and working both independently and within the larger companies.  One of these, David Bowley, has had experience of the latter and has now joined the ranks of the former!

With his interest in winemaking piqued by year 11 chemistry lessons on fermentation and then a work-experience stint with an international cork distributing company, David graduated from Adelaide University in 2002 keen to try his hand.  Following vintages with Rosemount and McGuigan Simeon here in Australia, David took himself off to Europe for a vintage in Burgundy before returning home and eventually settling in a position in the Wine and Brandy Corporation in Adelaide.  There he quietly nursed the dream of developing his own label using the best locally sourced grapes and, beginning work on his wine in 2008, he produced his first release in October 2009.  His current 2010 release includes a Vinteloper rose, sauvignon blanc, riesling, pinot gris and a shiraz, with his limited release “Odeon” riesling still to come.

David’s priority is to produce artisan wines that reflect both their region and his hand as a winemaker.  Through his experience and travels he has learned that  regionality and terroir is of paramount importance in fine wine and he hopes to promote an understanding of this through his product.  He is soon to release an exciting and very limited edition of pinot noir which has been made in a truly traditional style using no modern machinery.  The grapes are all hand picked and foot- stomped,  using natural yeasts and no modern analysis techniques.  The resultant wine will be a product of taste – just as it was made centuries ago.

From the time that David first began forming the idea of his own label he decided that regionality would be a prime consideration for him and, as he is developing, he is succeeding in furthering his goal of growing this concept and growing with it.  As the sole proprietor of Vinteloper, David is now a jack-of-all-trades, and labels himself as picker, vintner, oenologist, marketer, travel consultant, freight department head, receptionist, social media consultant, caterer and PR consultant – an enormous amount of tasks, all of which he tackles with both passion and good humour!  The fruits of all this labour are beginning to attract attention in the right places, so I’d suggest this is one winemaker to watch as I’m pretty sure that he is going places!

David’s favourites – Vinteloper Pinot Noir, Vinteloper Reisling, Vinteloper Shiraz.

My favourites – Vinteloper Reisling and, for lunch on a sunny day, his Rose beats all!

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