Michael Downer
TAKING ROADS LESS TRAVELLED
Winemaker Michael Downer has revitalised his boutique, family-run estate, transforming the vineyard, introducing adventurous new wines and collecting awards along the way.
The wines in Michael’s boundary-pushing new range are named after his grandfather and his love of horse-drawn vehicles – and that says it all. Michael is inspired by the past and keen to honour history, while boldly leading the business down roads less travelled. As the chief winemaker at Murdoch Hill in the Adelaide Hills wine region, and youngest son of founders Charlie and Julie, Michael is breathing new life into this acclaimed estate.
Scaling new heights
The Downer family has farmed their land at Murdoch Hill in the cool-climate Adelaide Hills since the 1930s, and in 1998, Michael’s parents planted the vineyard. This opened a new world for young Michael, who quickly became fascinated by the vines.
He studied winemaking and, like many successful winemakers before him, worked with some high-profile wineries and travelled the world to gain global experience. In 2012, the family’s youngest member returned to the family business and took over the winemaking reins.
Winemaker Michael Downer has revitalised his boutique, family-run estate, transforming the vineyard, introducing adventurous new wines and collecting awards along the way.
And that’s where the story gets exciting. For the first time, Murdoch Hill wines were made on site (winemaking was previously outsourced to a neighbouring winemaking). Michael revitalised the vineyard, introducing organic practices and planting new varieties. And he expanded the range of wines, launching the cutting-edge Artisan Series that’s all about expressing place through low-intervention techniques.
“It’s not textbook, scientific winemaking that we’re taught at university,” says Michael. “We’re pushing the boundaries in both our gentle winemaking approach and detailed attention in the vineyard to produce the best possible fruit, all to really enhance and capture the purity of fruit, with freshness and tension.
“The Adelaide Hills is a beautiful part of the world and is producing some outstanding wines, and I’m really just trying to capture that and showcase it to the world,” he says.
Since joining the family business, Michael has twice been awarded the Winemaker’s Choice award at the national Young Gun of Wine Awards, and in 2017 was crowned the Young Gun of Wine.
“My approach from vineyard to bottle is very simple,” says Michael. “It’s really just taking the best possible fruit that I can purchase or grow in our vineyard and capturing that and putting it in the bottle. Not taking too much out of the wine or putting anything into it.”
“This is not textbook, scientific winemaking that we’re taught at university. We’re pushing the boundaries.” – Michael Downer
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