When it comes to Australia's Place of Changing Winds – our newest (and long anticipated) name on the shelf – they’ve taken this technique in the vineyard to an absolute extreme (in some cases, 33,000 vines per hectare…that is tight) to create some of the finest Pinot Noirs coming out of, honestly, anywhere.

We’re thrilled to offer their stunning estate wines for the first time.

Robert Walters is the man behind Place of Changing Winds. He was originally an importer of some of the top domains (Selosse, Graillot, and Egly) for 20 years before setting out to start his own highly ambitious estate. It took five years of searching for the right land before Michael Dhillon, arguably Australia’s most lauded grower for Pinot and Chard at Bindi, tipped him to a piece of land within the Macedon Ranges.

Tucked into the foot of Mount Macedon, and isolated among forests at 500 meters in elevation, Walters and his partner Kate Millard began their work. Though they have 33 hectares of land, they settled on planting just 3 hecares to vines back in 2012 (through 2018). It’s only Pinot Noir and Chardonnay planted; but the estate has impressively used 9 different clones and multiple rootstocks (including own-rooted) in pursuit of the most successful combination.

Stunning Place of Changing Winds

Dedicating only one tenth of their land to vineyards has let them plant the estate to some of the highest density vineyards in the entire country. The philosophy being that the root system would reach beyond the (400-million-year-old) gravel and into a rare type of eroded basalt called mugearite, which results in significantly lower yields.

To quote the winery “We have almost 45,000 vines planted across 3.1 hectares, with densities of mostly 12,000 and 14,000 vines per hectare, but also significant plots at 20,000, 25,000 and 33,000 vines per hectare.”

High density plantings at POCW, where (challenging, rocky) soil is worked entirely by hand

To say this is ambitious is an understatement. And, the farming of the estate is truly without compromise.

They prune the vines with a method focused on combating wood disease (called Poussard, there's a nice video on the Prieuré Roch site here). The vines sit within arms length of each other and walking distance to the winery itself; they do not see any chemicals and can only be hand harvested.

The lineup is divided into three sets:

--- Estate bottlings of strictly Pinot and Chardonnay
--- ‘Tradition’ wines, for blended wines of estate and neighboring organic vineyards (including other varieties)
--- 'Grower Series' of négoce bottlings made from neighboring organic vineyards (including other varieties)

The wines are intensely flavored with energy and incredible length. Raised almost exclusively in thick-staved stockinger, they radiate with fresh fruit and their forested surroundings.

The estate wines are especially fine, some of the best new Pinot Noirs we’ve brought in this year.

SHOP PLACE OF CHANGING WINDS

All photos via Place of Changing Winds ❤️