Macedon Ranges Victoria

Samantha Payne explores a cool climate wine region producing some of Australia’s hottest wines.

- Samantha Payne

It may boast of being one of Australia’s coldest mainland wine regions, but things are heating up in the Macedon Ranges. Established winemakers, sommeliers and others in the wine trade are flocking to the area to try and tap into the magic of the Macedon.

Matt Harrop has worked in some of the best-known vineyards in Australia and New Zealand. Still, it’s his newly appointed position as chief winemaker at Curly Flat in the north-eastern area of Macedon that he is most excited about. “I feel like everything I have learnt as a winemaker over the past 20 years has led me to this place, that this is where I’m supposed to be.” While neighbouring Yarra Valley and Mornington regions also specialise in pinot noir and chardonnay, he says there’s an “underlying energy that reverberates through the wines coming out of this region”.