Exploring the Macedon Ranges (4): Bindi, one of Australia’s leading wineries
Website: https://bindiwines.com.au/
In the Macedon ranges, a short drive from Melbourne, Michael Dhillon (pictured above) is currently making some of Australia’s finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. When I first visited, in 2012, I described it at the time as one of my favourite winery visits ever. The combination of these wines, and the warmth and intelligence of Michael is irresistible.
His father, Bill Darshan Singh Dhillon, first planted vines here in 1988. The winery was built in 1997, and 1999 was the first year that Michael and his father paid themselves a wage. The wines show remarkable purity, and also an ability to develop over time. ‘We never set out to make the wines to age, but they do,’ Michael notes.
The story behind Bindi is an interesting one. Bill came to Australia from the Punjab, India, via Malaysia, in 1958. With his wife Kaye he farmed sheep at Bindi, and realised that he had to add value to the agricultural venture for it to be sustainable in the long term. So he thought about viticulture, but a prominent consultant told him that the land was unsuitable for vines in the 1970s. In the 1980s another consultant gave the correct advice, and the first of what are now 6 hectares of vines (4 Pinot Noir, 2 Chardonnay) were planted in 1988, on the 170 hectare property.
The man featured on the labels is Kostas Rind, a Lithuanian who taught Bill at Ballarat grammar school, became his mentor, and introduced him to wine.
We toured the vineyard. But we also spent time looking at another part of the property, where there’ s a forestry project. Bindi is a 170 ha farm, and part of it is given over to a farm forestry project. The goal is to fill this with high end timber, so they need to thin out the trees to select the best. Currently they are culling and making firewood, but eventually this space, which used to be an empty paddock that got burned a long time ago, will be a sustainable forest that will never be clear felled, but which will supply 50-60 year old trees. In three or four years’ time they will be able to harvest the first of the trees, and they are focusing on sugar gum and iron bark, which will be ideal for high-quality furniture production.
In this 14 hectare (35 acre) forest there’s a lot of biodiversity, and since they have stopped running sheep on the farm the biodiversity across it all has improved. For the forest, they are working with Ben Boxshall from Bendigo ( https://www.wood4good.com.au/ ). ‘One of the key ingredients is time,’ says Michael. This project began with his father.
This is an iconic Australian winery and it’s one where you buy any wine you can find, as long as you can afford it.
THE WINES
We tried 2024 wines from barrel.
Chardonnay is destemmed into the press so that the berries are broken and they get some phenolics. The barrels are filled from the press tray, with the 225 litre barrels filled to 180 litres, and 25-35 ppm of sulfites are added. The headspace is filled with carbon dioxide and spontaneous fermentation takes place. The barrels with more solids ferment faster (these are the ones filled last), while those filled first with green juicy ferment slower. Malolactic fermentation is allowed in a third of the barrels.
Bindi Kostas Chardonnay 2024 Macedon Ranges, Australia
Mineral, refined and pure with lovely crystalline citrus fruit. Very fine and expressive with such beautiful focus. 95/100
Bindi Quartz Chardonnay 2024 Macedon Ranges, Australia
Nice weight and balance here with a lovely mouthfeel. Mineral, fine and really detailed with great precision. 95/100
Bindi Cold Mountain Grenache 2024 Heathcote
This is an outlier, made with fruit from Colin Neat. Lovely pure redcurrant and cherry fruit with nice texture and fine spicy detail to the supple fruit. Really elegant. 94/100
Bindi Dixon Pinot Noir 2024 Macedon Ranges, Australia
This is a blend of two parts of the property, and it’s 50% whole cluster. Textured and fine with lovely redcurrant and raspberry fruit with really fine tannins. Has lovely pure fruit with real purity. Refined. 94/100
Bindi Original Vineyard Pinot Noir 2024 Macedon Ranges, Australia
Complex ferrous red fruits on the nose. The palate has lovely texture with some green herbal hints, and layers of flavour. Quite brilliant. 95/100
Bindi Darshan Pinot Noir 2024 Macedon Ranges, Australia
Named after Michael’s father Bill Darshan Singh Dhillon, this is from close-planted vines now in their eighth year of cropping, with some of the vines at a crazy 22 000 vines/hectare. This has a nice green herby edge with good concentration and energy, showing sleek cherry and raspberry fruit with a subtle ferrous note. So expressive with nice energy. 95/100
Bindi Block 8 Pinot Noir 2024 Macedon Ranges, Australia
Pure, lively and vivid with raspberry and cherry fruit, showing nice structure and density. Lovely fruit here with amazing energy. 96/100
Bindi Block 5 Pinot Noir 2024 Macedon Ranges, Australia
Great concentration with vibrant raspberry and cherry fruit showing richness and depth and also great precision. Dense but balanced with good acidity. 96/100
Older notes, from October 2012
Bindi Quartz Chardonnay 2011 Macedon Ranges, Australia
Very tight wth minerals, spice and a bit of matchstick. Good acidity with a lovely mineral character, real finesse and some subtle toastiness. 100% French oak, 30% new, for 16 months. Such good acid structure, Fine. 94/100
Bindi Quartz Chardonnay 2009 Macedon Ranges, Australia
Lovely aromatics. Fine with some toasty notes. Very expressive with some subtle notes of butter, nuts, toast and citrus. Expressive and fine with lovely precision and finesse. 95/100
Bindi Composition Chardonnay 2006 Macedon Ranges, Australia
So beautiful: fine, toasty and intense, with hints of toast and spice. Textured palate is fine and spicy with some mealy notes. Beautifully elegant with a hint of sweetness. Amazing complexity. 96/100
Bindi Block K Pinot Noir 2010 Macedon Ranges, Australia
The first vintage of the Block K is 2009, so this is the second bottling, but neither will be released for a few years. 70 dozen were made in 2009, 120 in 2010 and 150 in 2011. Silky, fine, pure red cherry fruit is just so expressive. Thrillingly elegant with fine-grained tannins. Michael describes this as having ‘beauty but ease: it is just not pushing.’ Fabulously pure with amazing aromatics. So delicate with a sappy hint to the fragrant cherry fruit. 97/100
Bindi Composition Pinot Noir 2005 Macedon Ranges, Australia
Beautiful aromatics: cherries, plums and herbs. Quite nervous and lively. Pure cherry and plum fruit with a nice spicy edge, developing beautifully with a subtle meatiness. Fine. 94/100
Bindi Original Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008 Macedon Ranges, Australia
Complex, fine and spicy on the nose. The palate is fine and multidimensional with great concentration and lovely finesse. Some structure and a bit of minerality, as well as some spiciness. Lovely silky red cherry fruit is the main theme here. 95/100
Older notes (2010)
Bindi Composition Chardonnay 2008
Rich, intense, toasty, mineral nose. The palate is concentrated and intense with powerful flavours of pear, fig and spice, as well as some toastiness and fresh acidity. A lovely complex Chardonnay. 92/100 (04/10)
Bindi Quartz Chardonnay 2008
Fresh nose with mineral, citrus and toast notes. The palate is intense, fresh, taut and mineral with appealing citrus fruit. This is so bold, mineral and fresh. It’s profound. 95/100 (04/10)
Bindi Composition Pinot Noir 2008
Pale colour – a little cloudy. Beautifully aromatic with warm cherry and spice notes on the palate, some sweetness, and a hint of leafy greenness. Very fresh and supple. Beautiful stuff. 93/100 (04/10)
Bindi Block 5 Pinot Noir 2008
Sweet, intense, floral cherry and herb nose. Aromatic and fresh with a hint of meat. The palate is sweetly fruited and elegant with rich cherry fruit, subtle sappiness and a long finish. An extraordinary wine: rich but elegant. 95/100 (04/10)
MACEDON RANGES
