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Home » Wineries » Massena

Massena

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This partnership between former Torbreck winemaker Dan Standish and Turkey Flat’s Jaysen Collins has established itself as one of Australia’s most exciting wine-making enterprises.

Best mates since high school, the dynamic duo decided to set up their own label one moonlit night while cruising to work a late-night vintage together in a beat-up Toyota Corolla dubbed The Brown Bullet. They had a hankering for a soft, Grenache-based tipple and so Massena's first wine, The Moonlight Run, was born.

Since that initial vintage in 1999, these young blokes have really hit their straps, gaining a reputation for producing clever, vibrant and modern wines with a distinct new-school feel.

The Massena winery, surrounded by gum trees full of noisy galahs, is located outside the hamlet of Lyndoch, in the Barossa's south, and sources fruit from very old vineyards planted by early pioneers in the north-western Barossa areas of Greenock, Kalimna and Koonunga Hill. A non-interventionist philosophy prevails and the wines are made using traditional winemaking techniques such as open fermentation and basket pressing.

While working mainly with traditional Rhone varieties grown on vines up to 120 years old, Massena is now experimenting with emerging varieties such as Durif, Barbera, Dolcetto, Roussanne, Saperavi and Tannat. The results are outstanding - check out the 2008 Barbera and the 2006 Howling Dog Petite Syrah, in particular. Whatever the grape, the goal remains the same – to handcraft rich and generous wines, true to the Barossan style. - Megan Lehmann


 

Wines from Massena