Winemaker Michael Corbett Expands Business

New Zealand-born winemaker Michael Corbett, co-founder of Vanguardist Wines in South Australia, has recently opened a new Clare Valley cellar door in Clare’s original town hall, wine writer Katie Spain writes for Adelaide newspaper, The Advertiser.

The cellar door is a great addition to Clare’s main drag and a fitting place to showcase Corbett’s small batch, handcrafted minimal intervention wines, Spain writes.

There, he will pour Vanguardist Wines, from the winery which he runs with business partners Edouard Maurisset-Latour and Alexandra McCarthy (both based in Beaune, France), his La Petite Vanguard range and wines made under his solo project, Sanglier Wines.

Corbett studied a wine science degree at Hawkes Bay during his 20s and hasn’t looked back. He now calls Clare home.

Corbett sources fruit from Clare Valley, McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills and intervenes as little as possible in the winemaking process. He loves to use whole bunch with reds, skin contact with whites, and very long maceration times.

“Depending on the vintage and the mood, there may be more or less,” he says. “Large format oak with little toast suits our wines.

“As I get more familiar with the ageability of the wines I am using less preservatives (occasionally none) and the wines are neither fined nor filtered.”

Corbett and local building designer Claire Hannagan spent four months fitting out the hall. The cellar door has breathed life into an old structure.

“As we were renovating we found an old sign under the paint with ‘town clerk’ on it,” he says. “The design is a take on a modern bistro feel – based on my love of France and experiences making wine there.”

Original article by Katie Spain, The Advertiser, November 13, 2019.

Photo by Brad Fleet.