Carlei Estate

Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

The year Sergio Carlei finished his winemaking degree, 1996, he was also diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia and told he might have two years. He declined the transplant, rebuilt his diet and his working life, bought a property at Upper Beaconsfield on the southern edge of the Yarra Valley and planted it to vines. Two years later the cancer was in remission. Carlei states that experience is still the philosophy behind every wine he makes. Thirty years on, he is still the only winemaker here. He and his wife Mary raised seven children on the property, and the winery beside the house runs on solar power. What that means in a glass is restraint. Ferments are left to go naturally. The top reds are bottled with no fining and no filtration. Oak is a frame, not a flavour. These are wines made to sit in the middle of a loud table with food going around it, which is exactly the setting the buyers we are meeting in Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Manila, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta are pouring into.