Tumbarumba Wine Story
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Excelsior Peak Vineyard
It was no accident that in1980, Juliet Cullen travelled to Tumbarumba with her then husband, Ian Cowell, to spend Easter looking for a suitable vineyard site for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Juliet had spent days at the Bureau of Meteorology in Sydney searching for a location that would match the monthly temperature graph she had brought home from the Burgundian city of Dijon. She and Ian had explored the vineyards of France in 1976 and had set out on a quest to find a place where they could realise their dream of making top Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Tumbarumba, high on the western slopes of the Snowy Mountains, was a perfect match to that temperature graph.
While the local farmers looked on somewhat bemused that grapes were being planted in such a cold area, where it snows in winter, and a chilly wind blows off the Snowy Mountains that pierce the southern horizon, they planted that vineyard. After many droughts and frosts, it did indeed produce award winning Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Sparkling for Charles Sturt University and Seppelts.
By 1994, the original vineyard had been sold to Southcorp, now Treasury Wine Estates, and Juliet, divorced and remarried, bought a new site on the rolling hills of Munderoo, 25km southwest of Tumbarumba, which was less frost prone and had more reliable water. She named it Excelsior Peak, because from the hill just to the east, you can see the snow on Australia’s highest peak, Mt. Kosciuszko.
Thirty years later, Juliet’s passion for grape growing still burns bright. She has added Riesling to her list of favourite wines, growing the grapes in Helm’s Tumbarumba Riesling, a wine that consistently receives 95+ points from leading wine writers.
Juliet’s Wine Story
I think of my vines as children. Every year, there is a cycle of giving birth to a new crop.
In the Spring months October–November, the babies are very small. That’s the time when you’re most nervous – you could lose them any night to frost.
Then comes the lovely growth stage of summer, when they shoot away and need to be looked after with food and water, a time to keep them disease free, as they flower
And then comes the ripening period of Autumn, when the vines start to get heavy with fruit and you feel like a heavily pregnant woman who just wants it to be all over.
Finally, in March, comes the harvest – when I labour – for days on end, to deliver my babies to the winemaker. It’s like sending them off into the wide world, where the winemaker takes over, moulds them, and guides them to maturity.
And when that lovely wine comes back home, I feel like a proud mum, and savour the result of all that work and love.
As the winter chill approaches, I give the vines a feed and put them to bed for a rest before the pruning starts and we begin the journey with the next generation of kids.
Elevation (m)
SOIL: Granitic Sandy Loam
ASPECT: N/W/S
YEAR PLANTED: 1995
SIZE: 11ha
VARIETIES : Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Sangiovese
Wines from Excelsior Peak Vineyard
Kosciuszko Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay
Kosciuszko Chardonnay
Kosciuszko Pinot Noir
Kosciuszko Sauvignon Blanc
Kosciuszko Sangiovese Rose
Helm Tumbarumba Riesling
Sapling Yard Chardonnay
Sapling Yard Pinot Noir
Sapling Yard Sparkling Pinot Chardonnay
