WINE CELLAR
A MYSTICAL BENT
Amphora wines – like the ones being created at Bent Road – have a charm and depth of flavour that defies their simple beginnings. WORDS TONY HARPER ROBERT RICHTER AND GLEN ROBERT make a compelling partnership. Not solely because of the duality of Robert (that’s just a bit of fun), but because they are so different, and yet so perfectly suited. Robert Richter is quiet … almost taciturn, but generous with his time; reserved, owlishly-wise, an old-style professor who is not yet old. Glen Robert is unstoppable, gregarious, filled with boundless energy, a wine-making-labrador in man’s clothing. They are both wonders and together they have created Bent Road Wines and a brethren label called La Petit Mort. Robert farms the land; Glen heads the winemaking. Their vineyard lies on Bent Road in Ballandean, Queensland, south of Stanthorpe, and not far shy of the New South Wales border. The Severn River runs through their property; it is home to cod, a watering hole for deer, wallabies and countless other fauna, and breathtakingly beautiful. The vineyard seems almost too organised, too civilised to belong. Yet it does, and it sits comfortably, almost seamlessly, amid the rocks, trees, watercourse and scrubby wilderness. Recently an old wooden church has been added to the house and winery sheds, to act as a tasting room. Due east of the house, by 30 or so steps, is the amphora garden. Round, ceremonial, almost religious. More so, perhaps, than the old church. It’s kind of like a miniaturised Stonehenge, inverted and buried. But instead of giant, vaguely rectangular boulders, we have large, Romanesque ceramic pots. Underground. Full of fermenting wine. And I reckon when it comes to wines made in amphora, there is a mystical element. A dimension we don’t yet have our heads around. It’s a process borrowed from ancient Georgian winemaking – before refrigeration, oak barrels, stainless steel, pumps, pipes, presses; six centuries before Jesus did his trick with water. And it is the simplest form of winemaking: put the grapes in the amphora, close the lid, and dig it up a year or so later. Bingo … grapes into wine. The earth acts as insulation, slowing the fermentation and the curves of the amphora encourage convection – no cold pockets and constant mixing of skins, seeds and liquid. There is science that explains much of the mysticism … just not fully. An amphora wine has an individuality, a peculiarity to it that can’t be gained from barrel, tank or bin. Compared to conventionally made wines it is the whites that are most disparate … but you can lay much of the blame for that on the skins; we are conditioned to know whites as bright, fresh, fruity, little or no tannin, almost clear.
60 covemagazine.com.au
– Issue 89
