Ministry of Clouds
McLaren Vale , South Australia
Brands
Ministry of Clouds
Winery Overview
"The Ministry of Clouds wines are shaped by a global perspective but utterly committed to being authentic expressions of Australian vineyards.” – Nick Ryan, Gourmet Traveller
The conception of Ministry of Clouds is not the linear, multi-generational history of many wine estates, instead it is born of two self confessed ‘black sheep’ of our respective families – Bernice Ong and Julian Forwood.
Having never set out to be winemakers, we were lucky enough to fall upwards into wine, through both fortunate and parallel accidents that saw us working for the storied Australian importers of the best wines from the old world. Burgundy, Barolo, the best of the Rhone
Now we are obsessed by identifying the noble historical vineyards of our home McLaren Vale, and a desire to express them in the purest and most honest way we can.
From our conception in 2012, to the subsequent purchase of our own 11 hectare vineyard The Chase in 2016, then winery developments in 2019 and 2023, we produce elegant, mid-weight, age-worthy, and food appropriate wines.
In addition, we continue to work with some of the oldest vineyards in McLaren Vale, with Grenache, Mataro, and Shiraz vineyards up to 103 years of age. Largely we look for these vineyard sites in the cooler sub regions of McLaren Vale, namely Clarendon, Blewitt Springs and Seaview, as we aim for our wines to show both gentle power and elegance.
We continue to expand our Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills source to include a rapier like dry Riesling, stylish Chardonnay, and spicy fine light bodied reds centred around Gamay, Pinot Noir and Syrah. Watch this space!"
Available in
Belgium, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, USA
Seeking Distribution in
Cambodia, Finland, Greece, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Switzerland, Vietnam
Chief Winemaker/s
Specific roles? No! We are a small collaborative hands-on team at MoC HQ. All three of us are involved in the making of the wines but ultimately Chris Parsons keeps us both in check 😜