Tamburlaine Organic Wines' work in Hunter and Orange regions drives brand's fast growth

It's a growth mirrored by the Tamburlaine operation, which began in 1966 with a small planting of shiraz, semillon and cabernet sauvignon in McDonalds Road, Pokolbin, bushland by Cessnock medico Lance Allen and his family.

Dr Allen, who died at the age of 85 in 1998, made Tabulaine a trail-blazing Hunter boutique producer it began an exciting new chapter in 1985 when it was sold to Mark and Louise Davidson and a small group of friends and relatives.

Today it is the kingpin of Orange Region winemaking and has become one of Australia's fastest-growing brands. It lays claim also to being our largest organic, vegan-friendly and preservative-free producer

Organic wine is made from grapes grown without synthesised chemical fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides or fungicides.

Tamburlaine, with 15 hectares of vines, its winery, cellar door and headquarters at McDonalds Road, Pokolbin, took a role in the Orange Region of the Central Range wine zone in 1995 when it bought the Borenore property and planted it between 1997 and 2001.

That commitment grew in early 2019 when it bought the 12,000-tonne-capacity-crush former Cumulus winery at Cudal, 39 kilometres west of Orange. That gave it the 4000-bottles-an-hour capacity bottling line and extensive cask hall and warehouse, which was followed in 2020 by the purchase of the Cumulus 507-hectare Boomey vineyard north-east of Molong.

With its existing Bellview and Borenore vineyards, Boomey gives Tamburlaine 800 hectares of Orange and Hunter vines, with the vast majority of its wine production now based in Orange.

Turning the Orange grapes into premium wines is the job of former McWilliam's senior group winemaker Andrew Higgins, who joined Tamburlaine in 2021. As Orange Region head of winemaking, he is excited to be continuing Tamburlaine's ground-breaking work involving organics, vegan fining agents and winemaking without added sulphur.

Mark Davidson, who swapped his government psychologist job for a wine career after doing a Charles Sturt University winemaking course, began converting the Pokolbin vineyard to organic production in 1999. Full certification was achieved in 2003. All-round organic conversion in the Orange vineyards is ongoing.

THIS Tamburlaine 2022 Reserve Riesling is pale straw, jasmine-scented and crisp lime front-palate flavoured. The middle shows apple, lemon zest and gunmetal characters and a steely acid finish. With all Tamburlaine wines at tamburlaine.com.au and cellar doors at Pokolbin and the former Bennett general store in the historic Millthorpe village.

PRICE: $37.

DRINK WITH: tapas.

AGEING: 10 years.

RATING: 4.5 stars

WITH 13.5% alcohol and glowing deep purple in the glass, the Tamburlaine 2021 Reserve Malbec features scents of berry pastille and caramel and vibrant, ripe loganberry front-palate flavour. The middle palate has Morello cherry, plum, spice, mint chocolate and savoury oak and ferric tannins come through at the finish.

PRICE: $48.

DRINK WITH: lamb shanks in cacciatore sauce.

AGEING: 12 years.

RATING: 5 stars

AS DEMONSTRATED by the Tamburlaine 2021 Reserve Chardonnay, Orange produces top-rank chardonnay. This 2021 is green-tinted lemon-hued and has scents of honeydew melon and crushed almonds. The front palate delivers elegant white peach flavour, the middle palate has pear, lemon curd, marzipan and coconutty oak and the finish slatey acid.

PRICE: $37.

DRINK WITH: crab souffle.

AGEING: 10 years.

RATING: 5.5 stars

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