It’s not every morning that a kangaroo hugs you. In fact, I’m not sure it is a daily occurrence even for other kangaroos. Nonetheless, the other morning I was hugged and I must admit I liked it. Now, I don’t want to give you the idea that Australia is so rife with kangaroos that they bounce into wineries on a regular basis and hug winemakers. Usually they are rather shy animals and as far as I know, don’t much care for wine. My little fury encounter did not take place at the winery, however, or even in Margaret River, the wine region in Western Australia where I have been working for the last several months. This public, and I’m sure accidental, display of affection happened in the little one-store town of Jerramungup on the border of the Fitzgerald River National Park in southwest Australia. There, in one of the nicest caravan parks you’ll ever find, is one of the friendliest kangaroos you will ever meet (I can not tell a lie: the park’s owner did tell me the roo had a fondness for crackers). You may now be wondering what an Oregon winemaker is doing getting cozy with marsupials near the outback when there is wine to be made? Well, as it is with all things, harvest too has come to an end.
Just over a week ago I racked my last tank of wine on my final shift at Watershed Premium Wines located just south of the small, and in many ways idyllic, town of Margaret River. This harvest was my first in Australia, my second south of the equator, and the 19th time overall I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to be apart of the timeless art of wine.
As it has been with every region I have worked in since leaving my home of southern Oregon last February, I went with little expectation of what I would see or learn. And in retrospect it was, and still is, not a bad way to approach the unknown. But hey, isn’t that what traveling is about?
Though I am sure when I return to Oregon I will be asked what I’ve learned on my winemaking travels, I am not so sure that I will be able to answer simply. However, after traveling and working in different wine regions around the world, I feel that I can say without doubt that I have discovered at least one truth, so far: Every place, every single vineyard, each quantifiable ounce of terrior is absolutely, unequivocally, beautifully unique. That said, I have learned winemaking techniques and observed many different styles. It is the land, however, that matters more than anything and it is the land that truly defines great wine.
So now, the day after my memorable hug, I sit in another caravan park, this time in the tiny outback town of Norseman. Just to the east is the Nullarbor Plain, a vast 1500-mile, almost treeless, mostly uninhabited expanse. Through it cuts the, nearly dead-as-a-doornail straight, Eyre highway. I am four days into a 6 – 8 week, 3200-mile journey east to the Great Barrier Reef. Between here and there, are many new wine regions to see and explore. As it has been with every day of this adventure, I still do not know what tomorrow may bring. But if the past can offer any hint of the future, somewhere out beyond the dry and distant horizon, I know that new and wonderful adventures await.
