Nullo Mountain Vineyard
Rylstone, NSW
It is often the smaller regions that are creating new wines, new styles and generating a sense of excitement within the industry.
These wines, all from the Nullo Mountain vineyard, comprise the Louee Riesling, Louee Pinot Grigio and the Louee ‘Late Picked’ Riesling.
High elevation, lower alcohols and letting the terroir dominate is at the soul of David’s winemaking. I’m a fan of dry Riesling styles of the ‘70s, with the lower alcohol, fresh acidity and slow ageing potential.
David’s history of making delicate Semillon from the Hunter Valley, which has a similar frame, can be seen in these wines, with the duality of vibrant freshness and the ability to develop complexity from slow ageing in the bottle.
Louee Wines has two vineyards in the Rylstone region (part of the Mudgee GI) including one of the highest planting of vines in Australia at 1100 metres.
The Nullo Mountain vineyard was planted in 1996 by Louee founders Rod James and Tony Maxwell. Since the brand’s inception, the wines have been made by David Lowe and last year the two businesses merged.
The Nullo Mountain vineyard is a very special place. The mountain holds some of NSW’s most spectacular landscapes. There are savage sandstone escarpments dropping hundreds of metres into the Cudgegong River and agricultural country below on the Rylstone and Mudgee side and dense eucalyptus forests following down to the Wollemi Wilderness and Hunter Valley to the east.
The name Louee is derived from the aboriginal word meaning plentiful water.
With an annual rainfall of 1 metre and deep soils derived from 17 million year old lava flows, is it a unique vinicultural area. Whilst part of the Mudgee GI, the wines are far removed from other Mudgee styles. The Louee wines are a true reflection of the terroir as there is very little work in the vineyard, and no irrigation.
Although unique in terms of terroir, Nullo Mountain is 50km from the Lowe winery enabling each variety to be brought quickly to the winery. The grapes were then cold fermented using aromatic yeast to ensure that the fresh, regional fruit flavours were retained in the wine.
