Located in the Huon Valley of Tasmania, Australia’s southernmost municipality and coolest wine region, Sailor Seeks Horse sits right on the edge of viticultural possibility. Paul and Gilli believe that it is at these extremes where exceptional results are possible. Huon is about one hour south of Hobart (Tasmania’s capital city) and conditions are generally cool and sometimes wet throughout the year. However, as harvest approaches at the tail end of summer, you’d be forgiven for questioning all of this, as temperatures at this time of the year can be quite hot and rain sparse. Paul is and Englishman (which we try not to hold against him) and Gilli Australian, and the two met while working in London in 2005. A desire to explore winemaking took them both to the Languedoc in France, where they observed how the French went about things. Seeing that they needed to learn more, they took off to Western Australia and studied viticulture and oenology, while taking further experience working harvests in New Zealand, Oregon, and Margaret River. Fast forward a few years and the couple took the leap and purchased their own plot of land in Southern Tasmania, convinced of the potential of their site in Huon. They now go about seeking to make the best Chardonnay and Pinot Noir they can, and from 2012 the results have blown us away.

La Porte Saint Jean is the project of Loire native Sylvain Dittière and Pauline Foucault. Sylvain kicked things off with an internship at Château Yvonne before stints with the greats. Gérard Gauby, Thierry Germain, Marc Tempé, and Clos Rougeard (where he met Antoine Foucault). He began farming his own vines in 2010 and now works 8 hectares.


Each vineyard has its own microbial fingerprint and Sylvain believes that’s what gives each wine its unique character. To preserve this, he avoids additions, instead relying on time to stabilise the wines naturally. Sulphur is used only in tiny doses at bottling (max 30ppm). He figures out how much by doing bottle trials and leaving them outside for 48 hours to see how quickly they oxidise.


Reds are always destemmed and softly macerated in concrete. He’s experimented with whole bunch but found the stems never ripen alongside the grapes in Franc, leading to bitter, green, astringent wines. Whites are direct pressed, then slowly aged untouched in serious barrels, Clos Rougeard cast-offs lol.

However, it’s those Loire troglodyte caves that is the true secret to such pure, pulsating expressions of place. The super stable temps allow for long, slow ferments and very gentle aging. Things can come together harmoniously at their own precious pace. Time is allowed to do its magical thing, fully undisturbed.