Crooked Mick Estate
Murray Darling
Brands
Houseboat Wild Ferment, Deep River, Paddle Steamer, Langhorne Creek, The Legend
Winery Overview
Crooked Mick is a Qualia Wines brand. Qualia make wines that complement a contemporary lifestyle and have an ‘above and beyond’ attitude, delivering quality and relevance in a competitive market.
Qualia knows only premium grapes make great wine. 40% of all Qualia’s grapes come from 1,500 acres of proprietary vineyards in the Murray Darling. The balance of the harvest is supplied through a strictly controlled grower base of 80 vignerons. For all of the wine we make there is an auditable trail from vine to table. They source grapes from the major premium viticultural regions in Victoria and South Australia including McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek, Adelaide zone, and Limestone Coast. The majority of the crush, however, is from within the Murray Darling region.
Most varieties excel here in the Murray Darling. Shiraz, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot perform exceedingly well. Other varieties grown include Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscat Gordo Blanco (Moscato).
Qualia Wines embrace cutting-edge technology with full conformity to global GMP through their ISO22000 quality assurance accreditation (under HACCP) with SIA. Pressing of grapes and must is managed through six computer controlled air-bag presses providing a precision tool for choosing press cuts to achieve the right balance of extraction and elegance. On site storage of over 60 million litres is in temperature controlled stainless steel vessels. Fully programmed and managed inert gas management, temperature control, stirring and pump-overs during fermentation are at a glance gives ultimate control. Winemaking technology delivers a precise breakdown of a wine’s composition within 60 seconds.
A good winery and winemaking team are judged, not by their finest wine, but by their humblest. This is the wine that must impress for its character, generosity and authenticity. It’s these qualities that translate to value – and that’s ultimately the consumer’s judgement.
Available in
Denmark, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam
Seeking Distribution in
Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA, Vietnam
Chief Winemaker/s
Gary Compton (Senior Wine Maker, Reds), Pia Merrick (Senior Wine Maker Whites), Utku Gundogdu (Winemaker)
Winemaker Bio
Gary Compton (Senior Wine Maker, Reds)
Gary is a “local” having grown up in Red Cliffs in the Sunraysia region only 10 kilometres from Irymple and Qualia Wines where he is the Senior Winemaker – Operations. His first wine industry experience was in 1985 as Winemaker’s Assistant at Deakin Estate in Sunraysia. Whilst at Deakin Estate, Gary completed a Wine Science Degree at Charles Sturt University and gained his Winery Cellar Procedures Certificate. In 1996 Gary moved to South Australia’s Riverland and during his eight vintages at Kingston Estate, he was appointed Senior Red Winemaker. The quality of the wines made from the Petit Verdot in these inland regions were awarded gold medals at national wine shows but Gary is particularly proud of the two trophies won at the Great Australian Shiraz Challenge.
Despite this success Gary returned to Mildura as Senior Winemaker with Evans and Tate followed by a contract winemaking position at Constellation’s Stanley winery. Gary brings a wealth of inland winemaking experience to Qualia Wines.
Pia Merrick (Senior Wine Maker Whites)
Pia’s passion for Wine and Food started from a very young age in Finland by reading endless books about wine, food and wine science.
After working in England as a Sommelier and finishing Higher Certificate of Wine & Spirit Pia undertook her first vintage in Chile’s Maipo Valley, followed by a number of years working in Tasmania establishing vineyards and working in cool-climate winemaking.
After Tasmania, Pia initiated a successful wine education business in Finland while continuing her studies of Bachelor of Applied Science (Wine Science) in Australia at Charles Sturt University. During those years, Pia also completed two vintages in France.
After working in Europe Pia returned to Tasmania to work with Andrew Pirie at Tamar Ridge for a number of years specializing in sparkling wine. This followed by five successful years in Western Australia working in winemaking and seven years in Mudgee, working with fruit from New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia.
Pia’s passion is white winemaking and expressing fruit aromas and flavours from the vineyard. She continues her studies with a focus on flavour and aroma precursors.
Having completed an AWAC – Advanced Wine Assessment Course at the Australian Wine Research Institute, Pia has been involved with judging in a number of wine shows in Australia. Including the Royal Adelaide Wine Show. Pia also has a strong background in Quality Management and Food Safety.
Pia commenced with Qualia Wines 2019 as White Winemaker.
Utku Gundogdu (Winemaker)
For Utku Gundogdu, winemaker at Qualia Wines, wine is essentially a natural product with infinite variation of different areas, grape varieties and winemaking cultures. It is more than an alcoholic beverage which can be shared within family, friends or in good company.
His homeland, Turkey, has a long association with wine.
Utku’s winemaking career has started after his colleague graduation on food science and engineering in Cappadocia, Turkey. He also has double master’s degree on viticulture and oenology from Montpellier SupAgro INRA winemaking school of France and Madrid Polytechnic University of Spain.
His background includes positions at Stag’s Leap – Napa Valley, Villa Maria and Delegat in the Marlborough region of New Zealand as well as experience in the Rhone Valley and Bordeaux, Cappadocia and Ankara areas of Turkey. Today, Utku’s winemaking philosophy has developed from his varied experiences from all around the world.