LOOKING BACK

The history of Tumbarumba is one that has been built in waves; from early explorers to cattle stations, through the gold rush days and eventually into wine. The first grapes were planted in 1981 but the actual wine region wasn’t established until the early-mid 1990’s when National corporate wineries were investing heavily in wine science and using trained viticulturists to explore and develop new wine regions. There were few places in Australia cool enough to craft world class wine from early ripening varieties such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

“That this was achieved in Southern NSW is among the most exciting stories in Australian wine making history.”

Ian Cowell, senior wine maker at Lindeman’s, was tasked with finding a region on mainland Australia that could produce premium grapes for Sparkling wine production. He searched for terrain that shared climatic similarities with France’s Champagne region. In 1993, Cowell established a vineyard in Tumbarumba. The purpose of which was to provide multi-nationals from other established wine regions with ultra-cool, premium quality grapes. As more vineyards were established, they too sold their fruit and soon Tumbarumba became a grape-growing, rather than a wine-making region.

“Set in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains, Tumbarumba is one of the coldest viticulture regions on mainland Australia.”

The ‘Tralee’ Vineyard is the largest in Tumbarumba and was originally established in 1993 by the region’s founder, Ian Cowell. As he later found out, Tumbarumba is not an easy place to grow wine grapes. Winter is bitterly cold. Spring is punctuated by severe frosts. And ultra-premium viticulture is laborious and fiercely expensive. After a long period of selling fruit to other wineries, including Block 20 consistently being reserved for Penfolds Yattarna. In 2011, the owners of the old ‘Tralee’ vineyard decided to call it quits and intended to dig up the vines. Determined to not let that happen, Jason and Alecia Brown came to the vineyard’s rescue which is where the story of Coppabella begins.

“..to create the ultimate expression of cool climate wines on mainland Australia was impossible to refuse” Jason Brown