TOPPERS WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY

Our wines are made by Mike Hayes, a winemaker in the Granite Belt region just over the state border in Queensland. Mike is known for his passion for integrating viticultural & winemaking techniques.

Combining old and new world wine techniques, less intrusive winemaking techniques and the wild yeast from our vineyard, the grapes can truly express their varietal characteristics and our local terroir.

Our vision is to make wines that sing of whence they come; the unique terroir at Topper’s Mountain. Our wines are all Single Estate, meaning that only grapes grown at Topper’s are used to make the wine which eventually fills our bottles.

I know just enough about winemaking to be dangerous. So, when we plan wines & styles, Mike’s vast experience from all over Australia’s wine regions and his feel for the subtle dance of nature that coaxes the soil, the climate, the fruit & the yeasts to co-operate towards the final wine in the bottle, keeps our vision on track.

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MIKE HAYES, WINEMAKER

“My philosophy is to express the terroir of the vineyard and not the barrel maker from the south of France. I feel that great wine comes from great vineyards, not great winemakers. I also feel that to capture the flavour of the earth and express it in the bottle is a far greater challenge than manufacturing wine in the lab. I believe in wild yeast ferments that build funky nuances within the flavour profile and little interference during fermentation. A great deal of cold soaking in my red winemaking delivers wonderful natural fruit tannins and thus no addition of tannin is necessary with most wines. We winemakers merely guide the fermentation and we do well to remember that the yeasts are the real winemakers.”