Castagna

The Free Bacchus Story

Almost as soon as Julian Castagna planted his vines, they looked sick. An expert blamed African black beetle and recommended a pesticide whose label carried a skull and crossbones. Castagna wanted to make one of the great wines of the world, and he decided he was not going to destroy the soil to do it. He flew round the world asking growers what to do instead; the New Zealand biodynamic grower James Millton spent five days with him. The answer was to let the grass grow back between the rows, and once it did, the beetles left the vines alone.

Julian and Carolann Castagna came to wine from film. They ran one of Sydney’s most successful production houses, he as a director and she as a writer. They bought land outside Beechworth in 1996, sold the house, and lived in a caravan on the site, which was romantic, the family says, for about five nights, until the ants arrived. They built the winery and the house from straw bales and planted in 1997 on old grazing land. Julian’s model was Côte-Rôtie, which is why the Syrah has a little Viognier in it.

Beechworth is high, hilly country about three hours north-east of Melbourne, with a continental climate of warm days and cool nights, and its Shiraz tends to the earthy and spicy, with raspberry fruit. The Castagna vineyard, about 4 hectares, sits at 500 metres on granitic loam full of quartz.

The family will not release a wine it does not believe in. In 2011, after a summer of heavy rain, Julian hated what they had made and released none of it; the wine was distilled, and the vermouth made from it took Gold and a trophy at the 2015 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards. The 2020 vintage was lost to bushfire smoke. Their son Adam has made wine with his father since 2000. The certificate, from Southern Cross Certified under the Australian standard AS 6000, covers the vineyard’s grapes as biodynamic. It does not cover the winemaking, and the Growers’ Selection wines, made from bought fruit, are not certified.