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The Allport Podcast
allport_conversation_part1.mp3 (10.6mb 15:27 minutes)	In this part of our conversation, after a rambling start during which we clear up the difference between cooks and chefs, we hear the Julian Allport story.  We find out about the ins and outs of being a 'cellar rat'. To finish we quiz Julian on his American winemaking experience.
allport_conversation_part2.mp3 (15.2mb 19:01 minutes)	In this part we find how Julian goes from America to Moores Hill vineyard in the Tamar valley. Along the way we waste everyone's time by discussing how Grange suffers from the 'Wayne Carey effect', we quiz Julian about how he and Fiona actually bought Moores Hill and finish off with how he intends to develop the Moores Hill brand.  We should note that during this part of our conversation the cellar door was getting very busy and the wind had picked up so brace yourself for a bucket load of ambient sounds.
allport_conversation_part3.mp3 ( 10mb  14:35  minutes)	In the final part of our conversation Julian momentarily turns into Captain Cliche then goes on to take us through the wines on offer at Moores Hill, we talk about how you can love one wine but end up buying another, we ask what the future holds for his vineyard, we ask about his favourite wine variety and favourite wine region, we discuss whether a winemaker is a good visitor to a cellar door, we hear about the one bottle gentlemen's club and to finish we ask if there is anything else that Fiona didn't want Julian to talk about.

Julian Allport - He makes magic with his hands.

Many of you have expressed your displeasure at the lack of podcasts relating to the very fine winemakers and vineyards in the north of Tassie.  Well, as promised, here is the first of many interviews with people from the Tamar and other northern wine regions.

Any industry needs the right balance between local experience and new blood. Experience provides the traditions, consistency and the stability and the new blood can provide energy and innovation. With regard to the Tamar wine region Julian and Fiona fall into the 'new blood' category.  Although as you will discover Julian also has considerable winemaking experience.

Julian Allport and Fiona Weller

We first met Julian at the 2009 Royal Hobart International Wineshow where he was enjoying the fact that the vineyard he and Fiona had recently bought had just won several awards. Fortunately for us he agreed to help us sooth you angry northerners by sitting down for a chat.  The recording was conducted under difficult circumstances. It was raining at the start, Moores Hill has a cellar door that gets busy at times, and the interviewers were savagely hung over. Despite this we think we recorded a very interesting conversation.

Since we knew so little about Julian we started by wanting to know about the 'Julian Allport story'.  People in the Tassie wine industry often have varied and interesting backgrounds (it's why we love talking to them - Ed) but we weren't expecting to find out that at one time Julian was an expert on tsunamis. Julian then "gave that up and went rock climbing" (was that to get away from water? - Ed).

Not content with what most people would regard as a varied life Julian tried his hand at IT and was part of the unravelling of the 'Dot Com Boom'. Luckily for the wine industry he would take time off from his 'real jobs' to "go and do vintages" and "work as a cellar rat ... they're the ones who do the grunt work". 2005-06 found him at the University of Adelaide studying winemaking as a 'mature aged student'.  

Part of the Moores Hill range.

After leaving university Julian ended up working in the American wine industry and we spent the last few moments of this part of our conversation finding out how that industry differs from our own.  One of the main differences is the amount of money that is available.  Julian pointed out that many Australian vineyards could do with better equipment while the Americans often have lavish equipment.

Julian also mentioned the size of some of the players in the American industry. While the industry contained "small guys who are worried about quality" some are "just pushing fluids around ... it's all about minimising risk and costs".  

The Second Part

In this part of the conversation we pick up the Julian Allport story from when he came back to Australia from the US. The fact that he worked in McClaren Vale peaked our interest and caused us to drift off into a discussion about how Grange is the Wayne Carey of the wine world.  That is it can suffer from unrealistic expectations when some people taste it. It has been so well marketed and people have heard so much about it that it cannot hope to live up to the hype and this can leave the first time taster a little let down. 

After this digression we managed to get on track and ask Julian how he ended up in Tassie.  His reply revealed his status as a self-declared climate change evangelist.  This was very brave of him because Fiona had expressly forbidden him to say that but Julian waited until she was too busy to stop him.  In his view Tasmania offers many advantages such as greater water security as well as the opportunity to make delicate premium wines. He argues that his view is supported by the fact that many of the larger wine operators are increasing their investments in Tasmania at the same time as they reduce their exposure to the mainland states.

Julian Allport at his cellar door

Julian and Fiona decided on the Tamar after having looked at all the wine regions in Tassie and chose Moores Hill vineyard because "you couldn't have asked for a better start for us because Rod and Karen had done such a beautiful job setting it up".  He noted that the Tamar had other advantages such as the fact that the Tamar is great for Riesling although "all the varieties do well" and the effectiveness of the Tamar Valley Wine Route group who he describes as "quite militant in getting things done".

To finish we discussed the general process of purchasing a vineyard which Julian admits in their case "was very slow" but cooperative with the result that the previous owners, Rod and Karen Thorpe, are still on hand to offer advice and assistance.  Part two of our conversation with Julian ends with the majestic sound of air brakes being vigorously applied by a local truckie (choice - Ed).

The Third Part

Just to do something different we use the introduction we recorded at the time we spoke to Julian, which is just as well because Julian exhibits his great sense of humour which gives you some idea of the fun we had speaking to him. We thought it was about time to ask about the wines the people will experience when they go to Moores Hill and Julian said "award winning Riesling" (thank you Captain Cliche - Ed) but then got serious and took us through each in turn. When he mentioned the Moores Hill Pinot Rose we had to confess that we had bought some. Normally this is seen as a compliment by most people but Julian called us 'cheapskates' when he found out that we had loved and raved about the chardonnay but bought the rosé.

Since we are used to being bagged about things, we pushed on to the personal questions. We found out that Julian doesn't have a favourite variety but does love taking extended trips to wine regions and visiting cellar doors. His goal is to discover that region's 'champion' both in terms of wine and producer. This led us to ask what it is like to visit other cellar doors when you are a winemaker. Julian doesn't normally tell people at the cellar door he is in the industry "unless I want a discount". When he does he gets various reactions "they will often pull out their best wines for you" but then " they will often tell you to go jump".

When asked about his favourite wine region outside Tasmania Julian replied "if we hadn't bought in Tassie we would have bought in Orange". He sees many parallels between Orange and Tasmania in terms of the potential for improvements in "consistency of product and stylistic improvement". Macedon is his next favourite and he believes that region is producing excellent pinot and chardonnay.

Julian is a big Obama fan and would love to share a glass of wine with him, although he concedes that "he isn't coming here anytime soon". Talking about Obama, we had to express our delight at the fact that a plucky Aussie battler (one John Winston Howard - Ed) inconvenienced this famous American by keeping him and his family out of the official guest residence and forcing them to stay at a luxury hotel much to the angst of the local lefties. While we admit to not being amongst John's fans upsetting lefties is one of our favourite sports and we always acknowledge any efforts by others in this regard.

We completely stumped Julian with our theme song question. He couldn't give us an answer on the day although he did promise to email us one (still waiting Julian, if you can't trust a winemaker then who can you trust! - Ed). We were very interested in Julian's favourite wine experience. While at university Julian was a member of the one bottle gentlemen's club which involved both he and his fellow student winemakers bringing a single bottle each to their regular tastings. As Julian stated "we would bring a bottle and taste through it .... we always tasted widely ... it was always iconic wines". 

To finish we wanted to hear about Julian's wife Fiona and in particular what role she played in the business. "Fiona is from a corporate marketing background ... it's a good fit, she is taking care of the sales, marketing and cellar door ... I take care of the viticulture and winemaking". 

Talking to Julian was fun and it has motivated us to head to the deep north again to talk to more people from the Tamar. We are also intending to visit the north west wine region and the fruits of that effort will be posted soon thereafter.

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