Post-Punk Winemaking

Neil Prentice's introduction to wine came through hospitality. "I was a wine waiter," he explains, "only because I'd never even heard what a sommelier was. But people would ask me if I was a sommelier, and I'd have to explain that I didn't have a smart enough hair cut, or a beard, so I was just a wine guy." [^274^] He worked for Iain Hewiston at The Last Aussie Fishcaf and, more recently, at Big Huey's Diner — a burger joint in South Melbourne — while simultaneously tending to his close-planted, cane-pruned vineyard in Gippsland. [^274^]

Neil's parents were looking to buy a farm in Gippsland to grow beef, and Neil's proviso was simple: it had to have a hill facing north-east, with deep, free-draining soil, where he could grow Pinot Noir. [^274^] The property they eventually bought was way up in the hills of Walhalla, in the Gippsland Mountain River District — a cold site, close to the Moondarra State Forest, at 450 metres altitude in the foothills of Mount Baw Baw. [^274^] [^261^] Neil planted the vineyard in 1991 — small, dry-grown, close-planted, cane-pruned — and began making wine with minimal training but maximum instinct.

Neil is a proponent of biodynamics because of his love of Burgundy, but he is candid about his approach. "Lots of people say they don't compromise in their vineyard, but we do. Especially with time." [^274^] Running restaurants and bars in Melbourne — his main source of income — while managing a hillside vineyard in Gippsland means split commitments. But the philosophy has never wavered: farm biodynamically, intervene minimally, and let the wine speak of where it comes from. [^267^]

In the years since, Neil has expanded the project. The Holly's Garden vineyard at Whitlands in the King Valley — 8 hectares of Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir at 750 metres altitude on the deep volcanic soils of the Whitlands high plateau — was added to the portfolio. [^256^] [^281^] Neil returned to take full control of the business in 2016 after some financial challenges, and today Moondarra exports to the US, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Korea, and Japan. [^256^]

Neil Prentice's winemaking is defined by what he calls "post-punk" philosophy — a rejection of convention, an embrace of experimentation, and a deep respect for the raw materials. [^273^] He is not interested in making wines that taste like everyone else's. He is interested in making wines that taste like Moondarra — like the volcanic soils, the cold Gippsland air, the biodynamic farming, and the irreverent spirit of their maker.

The techniques are deliberately low-intervention. Wild yeast fermentation, minimal sulfur, no fining, no filtering in many cases. [^278^] The Studebaker Bianco is unfiltered and skin-fermented — "one conclusion in a series of experiments in texture and tannin in white wine." [^278^] The Pinot Noirs are whole-bunch or destemmed depending on the vintage, aged in old oak, and bottled with minimal handling. The Nebbiolo is made in an "old school" style — light, earthy, and aromatic. [^280^]

Neil is pragmatic about the challenges of natural winemaking. "Even so, vinicultural practices are so dependent on the macro and microclimates of the vineyard that making great natural wines is very difficult and sometimes near impossible," he wrote in 2016. [^267^] He warns against big brands marketing themselves as natural — "perhaps think twice and consider just how unlikely that product is to be truly living." [^267^] For Neil, natural wine is a product for artisanal producers, made by people who understand their land intimately and are willing to accept the risks that come with minimal intervention.