Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/142283
Nick Glaetzer is the winemaker at Glaetzer-Dixon Family Winemakers. Nick Glaetzer For Nick Glaetzer, a career in mechatronic engineering (aka making robots) was permanently derailed while working a harvest at Leeuwin Estate in Margaret River (famous for its Art Series Chardonnay) and as he tells it, "The winemaker pulled out a bottle of wine for a blind tasting. It was a Pinot and I thought it was a good Burgundy. It turned out to be a Tasmanian Pinot from winemaker Andrew Hood." A few ounces of this wine was enough to convince Glaetzer to relocate in 2005 to "Tassie," where he began working with Hood and his colleague, the famed Alain Rousseau at Frogmore Creek. The quality of wine coming out of Tasmania is exceptionally high, but it comes with risks of spring frost after vine bud-burst and the "Roaring 40s," the strong westerly winds during spring that frequent the 40 degree latitudes and can sometimes upset flowering. These factors and others result in what Glaetzer declares as "fantastic vintage variation, with each season leaving its impact on the finished wines." Where else do winemakers talk excitedly about such extreme weather conditions? "I sacrificed some salary at Frogmore in exchange for using their equipment for my own wines," says Glaetzer. The sacrifice paid off in a big way, because in 2011 he was named Young Winemaker of the Year by Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine and was awarded the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy, Australia's most highly coveted wine prize. "My Shiraz was the first Tasmanian wine to ever win the Jimmy Watson, which caused a bit of a stir and allowed me to forge my own way, full-time, and I'm now making roughly 5,000 cases a year at Moorilla Estate." As part of the Jimmy Watson prize, Glaetzer had a chance to visit the U.S. "I was particularly impressed by the urban tasting rooms and urban wineries in Santa Barbara," he said. So much so, that he now plans to open his own urban winery in the southerly port town of Hobart, Australia. Frankland Estate: Hunter Smith Austrian and German Riesling estates are the breeding ground for learning the ins and outs of producing world-class wines—and prior to 2000, that's where Hunter Smith spent some time before returning to work the family business, Frankland Estate. The estate produces certified organic wines, and with 120 solar panels on the property, is nearly self-sufficiently powered. It all began in the 1970s when, "My father started making the odd barrel of wine for personal consumption, and in the early 1980s began an annual pilgrimage to taste new vintages in Bordeaux," says Smith. "In 1988, they planted their own grapes, which became the Isolation Ridge Vineyard and our official foray into the wine industry." Frankland River is the furthest inland of all the Western Australian wine regions and its first plantings took root in 1966. "When my parents first planted, they were keen to try a number of varieties, with the aim of producing a flagship red blend, Olmo's Reward, a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Franc is the variety that I quietly believe has the possibility of doing some great things." In addition, Frankland Estate produces six Rieslings and a Shiraz, which in Frankland River shows a middle-weighted wine with fine black pepper and spice notes, full of impact and flavour with a sanguine type viscosity and weight that contains beautiful length and elegance while possessing power and drive. Frankland River Shiraz is just starting to gain traction and awareness as people are, "increasingly looking to more elegant and, dare I say it, more sophisticated examples of this grape from Australia," says Smith. PHOTO COURTESY OF QUINTESSENTIAL WINES PHOTO: COURTESY OF GLAETZER-DIXON FAMILY WINEMAKERS Glaetzer-Dixon Family Winemakers: Hunter Smith of Frankland Estate, located in Australia's Frankland River region. 58 / the tasting panel / july 2013 TP0713_034-65.indd 58 6/24/13 5:41 PM