• Maverick Wines was established in 2004 by Ron Brown.

Introducing... Maverick Wines

You can be forgiven for not having heard of Maverick Wines, as they are a relative newcomer to Australian wine, established in 2004 by Ron Brown. The vineyards that were purchased to become part of Maverick are anything but young, as half the vines are over 100 years old.

So why, after a successful career selling wine around the world, did Ron decide to put his winemaking skills to use? With a singular aim, to become one of the top premium boutique wineries in Australia. James Halliday has awarded Maverick 5 Stars every year since the beginning, summing up the wines thus - “The quality of the wines is exemplary, and the prices sensibly pitched”. The wines are hand crafted from 100% biodynamically farmed vineyards. The Vine Vale winery is certified biodynamic. These are exceptional wines that not only deliver great value, they break the traditional mould of what you perhaps expect from Australian wines. These are rather restrained, elegant and beautifully structured wines.

There are a few different ranges within the Maverick stable.

Trial Hill is a stand-alone vineyard in Pewsey Vale, Eden Valley. The vineyard is north facing at 450 - 480m altitude. Within the vineyard there’s a number of different micro climates and varietal alterations. These include a 1.8 Ha Riesling section, which is austere, with shallow (15 cm) grey-brown skeletal soils, strongly acidic, rich in mica, stony and steeply sloping. It was contour planted about 40 years ago for ease of operations, which adds further diversity in ripening.

The Breechens range of wines are single varietal wines that come from vineyards in the Vine Vale sub region of the Barossa Valley. This region of the Barossa is very well suited to Cabernet in particular. Also in this range, a single varietal Grenache, something that the Australian’s do particularly well and this one a benchmark.

The Twins range is then a blend of the Barossa and the cooler sites in the Eden Valley. In this range we have a GSM and a Cabernet blend.

Also in the Twins range, there’s a barrel select bottling of the top barrels as the name suggests. These bottles feature a label painting by Sydney-based artist Charles Billich, one of the art world's living icons and a lover of our like-minded Maverick Wines, which indicates the hedonistic enjoyment which we hope this wine will bring!

The Maverick Wines are new to New Zealand and we are delighted to have found them and be bringing them in for you to enjoy. Ron Brown is in New Zealand later in the month and will be hosting a series of tastings. We’d love to see you come along.

Full details on our website www.glengarry.co.nz/tastings


By: , Wine with Liz Wheadon, Glengarry

Issue 97 April 2019