| JAMES SWEETAPPLE CARGO ROAD WINES
With Education complete, James escaped Sydney, heading for the bush and episodes of landscaping, ‘jackerooing’ and all sorts of other jobs on the land, until eventually returning to work in Orange where he had studied Farm Management in the 80’s, to plant vineyards. This developed into a business of not only planting but extensive Vineyard Management in the region. Always, there had been a keen interest in wine and this sort of work was steering him closer to what would be his future.
In 1997, with two other individuals they purchased a ‘run down’ Cargo Road Winery and vineyard. Cargo Road Wines is located at 860m above sea level, on the sheltered northern slopes of Mount Canobolas, Orange in central western NSW. It was from this point that James’s ‘walkabout lifestyle’ ceased and what you see or how you see Cargo Road Wines in 2010 is pretty much an expression of his efforts across the vineyard, winemaking and the Cellar Door.
In 1997 the then fourteen year old vineyard was planted mainly to Zinfandel in the red department and Gewurztraminer in the white. So, a pioneering Orange wine grape growing vineyard planted to relatively obscure commercial varieties, less known even now didn’t faze James. “That’s what we had’,” is how he puts it. And so, an intense focus of what goes into the bottle, his winemaking and varietal research started.
Consultation with winemakers, anyone with thoughts on his Zinfandel and Gewurztraminer varieties and copious reading and tasting added to his first strength, that of a positive outlook and a lack of any ‘institutional’ burdens which ‘could’ restrict his freehand and thinking. He soon learnt, as have others, core winemaking philosophy is all about ‘balance.’ Work started with “nurturing and maintaining the existing vines. This has been done in the form of weed control, pruning, canopy management and a bit more weed control. It has also been through increased plantings particularly Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.”
James runs a propagation program or nursery for replacement vines which are used to ‘replace’ damaged plants that may be attacked by feral or indigenous animals or even over eager ‘tractor drivers.’ He has decided, given the starting point with Gewurztraminer to concentrate on the aromatic whites: Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. In fact he has recently increased plantings Riesling. And if he wants a good Orange Chardonnay, he buys one.
“Cargo Road Wines grow grapes that are intense in flavour and colour. From this, we strive to produce wines with good strong tannins that allow them to be enjoyed in the short to medium term. This is not to say they won’t last longer than that, but generally there will not be any significant improvement after that time period. We care as much about growing our grapes as we do making our wines. We nurture our vines all year round, pruning carefully, managing the undergrowth and weeds, and harvesting the grapes at the optimum level of ripeness. We grow grapes and make wine for people to enjoy. We care for the environment by carefully managing our use of the land and being selective in the nutrients we add to it.”
There is a DVD which goes through the seasonal work at Cargo Road, and as you see James either in winemaking mode covered in ferment or in the vineyard, rubbing up against his 25 year old Zinfandel vines, it’s obvious he loves his work. Not so much ‘chasing cattle’ these days.
Toward the end of the DVD, he comments: “the more you leave it to mother nature, the better the chance of getting it right at the end of the day.” This was in general terms refering to his ‘balanced winemaking’ philosophy, but when lined up with his specific comment about a Zinfandel ferment and his 10 years at it: “it’s getting better and better,” I knew I’d heard this sort of comment before. I have heard others whimsically say you need time on the land and with the seasons to build an intimacy, to be able to see ‘over that fence’ to be able to make the sort of wines you then know you can. “I could leave Cargo Wines today and know that I have improved the land from when I took over, improvement that will continue for many years to come.”
Cargo Road Winery’s cool climate and slow ripening produces grapes with good flavours generally and red grapes with great colour. Or as James puts it
COOL CLIMATE WINES WITH ALTITUDE References: Cargo Road Wines Website
Cargo Road DVD
James Sweetapple 29-8-2010
|
