Issue 54 Aurora Magazine January 2023

More documents

Info

taste CHALARI WINES Maverick Winemaker Alexi Christidis STORY ALLEN NEWTON The lure of the wide-open spaces of Mount Barker were irresistible for former Perth Hills winemaker Alexi Christidis. He upped stumps and moved his family and winemaking business, Chalari Wines, from Roleystone to the Great Southern at the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020. Alexi and his wife, midwife Hayley wanted more space, an escape from the city, and to be closer to more of the fruit he uses in his winemaking. Mount Barker also provided proximity to Albany and more importantly the property had the right qualities to be able to make great wine. There are no vines yet, and although the couple do lease a property halfway between Mount Barker and Albany where they organically grow fruit, most of their grapes are bought from other growers. While Alexi is passionate about Swan Valley fruit which provides grapes earlier in the season than those from the Great Southern, he uses fruit from all around the region to make his ‘garagiste’ style of wines. “We start in the Swan and finish up down here,” he says. “We’ll buy chenin and grenache and a bit of chardonnay from the Swan and I’ll get it in my truck and then we’ll process it down here and then wait for the fruit in the Great Southern to ripen.” He already uses fruit mainly from Frankland River and Mount Barker and has recently added the Albany sub-region to his list of suppliers. A jack of all trades Alexi says his approach to winemaking is very hands-on. If he needs a piece of equipment, he’ll look around to see what he has on hand, rather than buying it in. “Our focus is on low-fi, minimal intervention wines on the natural side of things. We don’t use any fining, we rarely filter the wines. I’m all about minimal intervention and sustainability. “That means the wines we make are a little bit different, we make old method sparkling wine, pet nat, some skin-contact white wines that can be a bit cloudy, and then we also do a couple of traditional wines, a sparkling wine, some traditional reds in different blends.” Chalari means ‘relaxed’ in Greek, the county of Alexi’s father’s birth and a big inspiration. Alexi’s dad died in 2013 but would be very happy with what his son is doing. “He would have been there telling me how to do it and he would enjoy a retsina, although it would be the cheap stuff,” he laughs. A nod to his Greek heritage and a tribute to his father comes with Alexi’s take on a Retsina made from Swan Valley chenin blanc which is infused with Greek pine sap. Alexi says most people on their travels to Greece don’t get to sample a quality retsina which usually isn’t a great wine. “We wanted to do something like that to pay homage and we import the pine resin from Greece, tapped from the Aleppo pine tree, which we infuse into a Swan Valley chenin blanc. “Ideally you would use a different grape variety, but it’s kind of worked for us. It’s the only Australian-made retsina that we know of.” Alexi says retsina is a very different-tasting wine, but Chalari did make the top 10 list of aromatised wines in Australia in the Drink Easy Awards. He says it’s a bit like vermouth Small Group Tours • Wine • History • Nature Book direct: www.busybluebus.com.au/tours | Phone 0418 414 425 14 LOVE LOCAL
taste in that it can be drunk neat on ice, and it makes a good cocktail mixer, which is the market Chalari targets. “There are some Greek restaurants where they pour it as retsina. It’s pretty fun, people are blown away if they haven’t tried it before.” Made in Greece for more than 2000 years retsina was supposedly made by locals who would ferment white wine with Aleppo pine resin because they hoped the oily residue it caused would deter intruders from stealing their wine during times of war, but over the years the flavour became popular. Alexi grew up in Fremantle and Hayley in central Queensland. The couple met in Perth when she was traveling. Alexi’s qualifications include a Bachelor of Environmental Science, a Bachelor of Wine Science from Charles Sturt University, some WSET wine qualifications, and various IT qualifications. His wine career includes stints at a number of wineries in the Perth Hills, a vintage in Champagne in France and consulting in the Peel Region before establishing Chalari. Alexi doesn’t have a wine-making heritage and unlike some winemakers hasn’t inherited a winery or equipment which he says would make life easier. “It has made it harder to break into it, but it’s something we want to do and for five years we just basically sunk everything back into the business until we’ve been able to come up with a pretty much fully functioning winery.” All Chalari wine is small batch, using small parcels of grapes from vineyards around WA, and made with minimal intervention. Chalari wines include a lightly sparkling rosé and riesling, a pet nat made from vermentino and a skin-contact chenin blanc. The range of 10 wines includes his take on retsina. It’s not too easy to find Chalari wines around the Great Southern, but Alexi says some of their wines are available at the White Star in Albany and they are also available online. www.chalariwines.com.au OPPOSITE PAGE: Alexi Christidis from Chalari has found his own way in the wine-making industry. BELOW: Chalari’s Mataro is made from Frankland River fruit. BOTTOM LEFT: Chalari’s Red/White is made with fruit from the Great Southern. BOTTOM RIGHT: The only Australian-made retsina. LOVE LOCAL 15
Page 1 and 2: FREE Aurora Issue 54 GREAT SOUTHERN
Page 3 and 4: contents 4 SPOTLIGHT ISI CAMPBELL D
Page 5 and 6: spotlight PHOTO: SERENA KIRBY had i
Page 7 and 8: Just a note to say THANK YOU histor
Page 9 and 10: focus REBECCA KIRKWOOD Leading the
Page 11 and 12: BROADER HORIZONS Chelsea McIntyre |
Page 13: taste we had talked about the Baros
Page 17 and 18: vogue BREEZE ATA WRIGHT | LOCATION
Page 19 and 20: vogue OPPOSITE PAGE CLOCKWISE FROM
Page 21 and 22: eflect 30, lined up for his medical
Page 23 and 24: engage with very high needs, she co
Page 25 and 26: create thus allowing flexibility wh
Page 27 and 28: perform treat it as a privilege and
Page 29 and 30: what's on The Albany Art Group 61st
Page 31 and 32: Everything we put in the Gig Guide

Issue 54 Aurora Magazine January 2023

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?