SA Life, Dec 2009 / Jan 2010 - Wine - David Sly, page 116.

NEW DIRECTIONS IN WINE...

Matt Gant embraces these notions to an even greater extent. The gregarious English born winemaker with First Drop Wines is one of the dynamic successes of the young wine generation – buying the best fruit he can source across many districts, rather than being limited to only a few vineyards or grape varieties. This virtual winery model enables Matt and brand co-proprietor John Retsas to produce wines they get very excited about – from a suite of single vineyard expressions of Barossa shiraz, to bold blends featuring splashes of nebiolo and barbera, montepulicano, touriga nacional trincadeira.

During 2009, First Drop held a major showcase of its wines for leading Australian wine journalists – and instead of just blowing their own trumpet, Matt and John invited five dynamic winemakers from other companies (Colin McBryde, Gemtree’s Mike Brown, Bremerton’s Rebecca Wilson, Bird in Hand’s Andrew Nugent and Barossa’s Tim Smith) to share the spotlight. “We aren’t the only ones making decent booze in South Australia,” says John. “We’re lucky to have so many talented and creative winemakers around us.”  Everyone’s wines were tasted at a gala dinner, triggering robust discussions on appropriate grape varieties for certain Australian regions, blending, terroir,  and how the new generation of winemakers can make a difference. “I don’t see these guys as my competitors,” says Matt. “The more people we involve in these intelligent conversations about wine, the better.”

This landmark First Drop Dinner was held at Bird in Hand winery in Woodside, where Andrew Nugent makes bold, robust interpretations of cool climate wines. It’s a smart contemporary Adelaide Hills signature, stubbornly celebrating cabernet sauvignon(with good reason)…

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