WILLIAM DOWNIE WINES
www.williamdownie.com.au

William Downie represents the pinnacle of minimal intervention, site-specific pinot noir in Australia. No one has done more work in the vineyard than he has, spending his days meticulously caring for his home and leased vineyards, as well as seeking out the best sites for pinot noir across Victoria. Bill started out in wine near the top: a two-year stint with the legendary pinot noir producer Phillip Jones at Bass Phillip in Leongatha, Gippsland. He went on to work for De Bortoli, eventually becoming their senior winemaker in 2006. In the meantime, Downie launched his own label in 2003, quietly sourcing and making some of the best pinot noir in Yarra Valley, Gippsland, and the Mornington Peninsula.  He and his wife Rachel (a talented wine professional in her own right, not to mention an expert yogurt and cheese maker) own their own farm called Guendulain, in addition to tending to other plots all over Gippsland. Pinot noir is the only grape cultivated: a nearly unheard of dedication in this day-and-age.

‘What I think is interesting about Australian Pinot Noir is the generally very old soils. The vines have. a big story to tell. An old story to tell. And because it's such large story to tell. A subtle and nuanced story to tell. It can be very hard to coax that story out. So we have to work very gently and delicately to coax the story out.’ - William Downie

‘William Downie is this century’s original enfant terrible of wine. Well, in Australia at least. A cheerful iconoclast that scythed through convention long before lo-fi winemaking had taken a firm grip on the emerging generation of makers. With a broad smile and a self-deprecating manner, Downie forged his own path of minimal intervention with scant regard for what others thought. This approach should not be mistaken for arrogance, but rather an attitude forged by the deep belief that you don’t make great wine by second-guessing the expectations of others. To that end, Downie is also one of the most witheringly self-critical makers in the land. That exactitude and drive has seen him rise to be one of the finest exponents of pinot noir in this country, with his maturing Guendulain Farm vineyard, in Gippsland, promising to deliver even more on his substantial promise.’ - Young Gun of Wine

*Label art by Reg Mombassa