The Taemas Vineyard is located about fifteen kms south west of Murrumbateman in NSW and about ten kms north of the ACT. It is a name which dates from Hume and Hovell’s journey through the district while en route between Sydney and Melbourne in the early 1820s. We believe the word to be an old variation of the word “Thames”.

Taemas Vineyard was established in 1997 with progressive plantings covering four hectares over five years. The first wine produced under the Taemas label was the 2004 Pinot Noir. Fruit grown at Taemas but not used in Taemas Wines is sold to other wineries. Total production from the vineyard is limited to about 15 tonnes.

The 2006 Shiraz/Viognier is the first made and uses a portion of our Shiraz planting that had been sold to Lark Hill for the five preceding years. We had planted a little (150 plants) Viognier in 2001 which was sourced from Yarra Yering stock. We limited this first S/V to three barrels (two new French and one one-year old). The Shiraz and Viognier were harvested the same day and de-stemmed and crushed together prior to co-fermentation. The Viognier represented about 4.5% of the fruit by weight. This wine has won BRONZE medals at both the Canberra and Murrumbateman Cool Climate Wine Shows in September 2007.

Our 2006 Shiraz/Viognier and our 2005 and 2006 Pinot Noirs were made for us by Dr Brian Johnston of McKellar Ridge Wines. For all three wines Brian used very hands-on French techniques prior to development for fourteen months in fifty percent new and once-used French oak barriques. These techniques included small batch de-stemming, the addition of whole bunches, pigeage three times daily during primary fermentation, and small basket pressing. Our 2006 Shiraz was made from the same Shiraz fruit but by a different winemaker, Rob Howell at Canberra Winemakers.

Our 2004 Pinot Noir (also made by Canberra Winemakers) and our 2005 Pinot Noir both received BRONZE awards in the 2007 Winewise Small Vigneron Awards.

In 2007 no Taemas fruit was produced due to frost damage and hence there are no 2007 Taemas wines.

From our 2008 vintage we have four barriques each of a Pinot Noir, a Merlot and a Shiraz/Viognier now developing in French Oak with bottling planned for September.

The four hectare Taemas Vineyard appears on the latest Canberra District Wine Map with tastings by appointment only. More information is available at taemaswines.com.au.

Peter McPherson and Peter Wheeler

• Website: www.taemaswines.com.au
• Phone: [get phone number]
• Address: 121 Magennis Drive, Murrumbateman, New South Wales, 2582
• [Email Taemas]