the winemaker

There is an old Georgian saying I hold dear,

“first there is mother’s milk,
then there is wine.”

Wine is all I have ever known, and wine is all I want to know.

Born in Canberra and raised on a sheep farm on the Murrumbidgee near Bredbo, my father was an agricultural scientist and my mother was a wine aficionado from Lithuania, so there was always wine on the dinner table.

And I was headed for wine as soon as I left school too. Not only drinking the stuff, but making it with renowned Canberra District winemaker Tim Kirk, of Clonakilla fame. I didn’t leave my studies behind altogether, completing a degree in Oenology at Charles Sturt University.

Then… what a wild wine ride. I was guzzling in the knowledge.

a journey from canberra to georgia

After three years with Clonakilla, my first job out of university was with vintage winemaker Pernod Ricard – a most valuable experience that has taken others in the industry more than ten years to achieve.

Then it was on to winemaking at Lerida Estate in Canberra, and then the creation of my first label, Even Keel, a joint effort with winemakers Alex McKay and Nick O’Leary. This was followed by a year with Yarra Burn, and a year at Chandon.

And then I began a serious run of contract winemaking…and I fell hard for Georgia.

I was driven back to the roots of winemaking in Georgia, Eastern Europe, considered the birth place of wine. I spent up to six months of the year for seven years in Georgia, learning about traditional Georgian winemaking in a huge soviet-era winery.

My days were spent flanked by bodyguards as the local growers would often get a bit gripey if you turned away their grapes. It was here that I spent time making wines that were exported throughout Europe and China.

the beginnings of tractorless

In 2010/11 I began contract winemaking back on home soil in the Southern Highlands, but I never lost my serious interest for old school winemaking techniques garnered from the Europeans.

Contractors need the wine from the vine to bottle as quick as possible, but I had the patience and was prepared to trial wines and wait for the styles I really wanted to develop…and so my own wine business grew as a bit of a passion project on the side – it kept my interest up, whilst contracting continued to pay the bills.

I knew the Southern Highlands had huge potential for growing cool climate wines – especially Pinot and Riesling – and I sought ways to make my wines as close to carbon neutral as possible. My passion project then gained a name – Tractorless Vineyard- in 2012.

I started trialling biodynamics and utilising sheep, and found I could create interesting wines, whilst reducing our tractor use significantly. So, these days it’s less about world travel and bodyguards, and more about gumboots, sheep wrangling, hand turning bottles, trialling wine styles and biodynamics.

my home

The Southern Highlands is my home and I share it with my wife, a sculptor from the region, and my two spirited children, Hamish and Saskia. I love the simple things – good food, family, friends and fly fishing when I can find the time away from wines.

And my favourite wine?

For me, it’s about which moment in time and place needs which particular style of wine. An afternoon spent sitting in the sun eating prosciutto and antipasto, and I just knew I wanted an aromatic variety in hand. That’s how our Aleatico Moscato was born – the moment in time, the desire for the style, the patience to see it flourish from a simple idea to the glass.

I hope you enjoy our wines, and that you find your own perfect moment for the perfect Tractorless Vineyard wine.

Jeff Aston

Winemaker, Tractorless Vineyard