Local drops earn spot among world’s best

STEVEN PAUL is no stranger to accepting accolades for Oakdene’s tipples, but the vineyard’s most recent success came at quite the surprise.

Alongside seven wineries from across Victoria, Oakdene will send two wines to the Cité du Vin in Bordeaux, France – the world’s largest wine museum.

Paul said to learn Oakdene’s bottles will sit among the world’s best was a pleasant shock.

“The benchmark wines are all from France. We drink them when we can afford them and when we can get them, so it’s very cool that a nice cluster of Victorian wines will be with them,” he said.

“It’s really nice as a Victoria producer, and as a pretty proud Victorian, to know our wines will be in good company.”

The wines, one white and one red, will be on display before later being available for tasting to museum visitors.

“The two wines are the 2023 Liz’s Chardonnay and the 2021 Bernard’s Cabernets. It’s ironic that our founders and owners, Liz and Bernard, were the two wines that were chosen,” Paul said.

The 2023 Chardonnay has already received top accolades across Australia in recent years. Paul said its selection was not as surprising as that of the cabernet.

“It’s fun to think that [the cabernet] is made from varieties that are native to Bordeaux, and now it’s on display there, in its homeland.

“For a wine tragic like me, it’s a full circle moment where you go wow, these wines are being returned to their roots.

“Clones that have been selected from vineyards there, quarantined, made available in nurseries in Australia, grown in our vineyard in, pressed in our way, the Geelong way, and now they’re heading back over there.”

Paul said the journey from vine to bottle was incredibly long, and changes in weather throughout the growth and harvest stages make every vintage unique.

The wines will be presented alongside bottles from six other Victorian vineyards.

Display dates are to be confirmed.