Jayden Ong
DREAMING BIG
Jayden Ong may be one of Australia’s busiest winemakers. He makes wine under four labels, runs a vineyard and co-founded two restaurants. And he’s just getting started.
After working for six years at a much-loved Melbourne wine bar, Jayden was lured to the other side. He studied winemaking while squeezing in vintage work, and in 2010 launched his first label, One Block. Since then, this first-generation winemaker has started three more wine labels: Jayden Ong, La Maison de Ong and Moonlit Forest. Along the way he also found time to co-found Cumulus Inc. and Cumulus Up, two of Melbourne’s most popular eateries. Passionate about capturing time and place, Jayden crafts acclaimed wines that reflect their maker: diverse, quality-focused and a bit adventurous.
Forging a unique path in vines and wine
Food and wine are Jayden’s great passions, and growing the produce is the part that excites him most. In 2015, Jayden and his wife Morgan bought a block of land in the Yarra Valley. At 700 metres above sea level, it’s the highest vineyard site in the region. They immediately converted it to organic farming – with a combination of biodynamic and biological practices incorporated – and planted not just a vineyard but also a vegetable garden and fruit orchard.
“I’ve always found it weird that you kill one thing to grow another with chemicals,” says Jayden. “So, I believe taking a holistic approach, creating diversity, moving away from monoculture and having the farm in balance gives us an opportunity to grow pure-tasting fruit.”
With such a strong focus on the vineyard, Jayden keeps things simple in the winery, letting wild yeast ferment the wine and adding nothing but the smallest amount of Sulphur.
“You can open a bottle and almost reminisce what that year was like, whether it was a hot year or a cool year,” says Jayden. “I’m not a winemaker who tries to smooth over those things, but actually celebrates the vintage differences.”
Full of energy, ideas and a drive to carve out his own path, Jayden is part of a new generation of winemakers who are creating a fresh buzz in the Yarra Valley. In 2017 and 2019, he was named in the Young Gun of Wine Top 50.
“I’m not bound by traditional behaviour,” says Jayden. “I think that it’s certainly a fine resource to see what people have done in the past, and respect the hard work they’ve put in, but we wouldn’t want to be shackled by it.
“At some stage I would like to feel satisfied with what I have achieved. But we’re still in that building process, so I haven’t achieved it quite yet.”
“I’m not bound by tradition. It’s a fine resource to see what people have done in the past, but we wouldn’t want to be shackled by it.” – Jayden Ong
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