book.tascountry - Flipbook - Page 12
News
Young Gun of Wines 2024 award winner Marco Lubiana is the 昀椀rst Tasmanian to be named the best young winemaker in Australia.
Top award for
son-of-a-gun
winemaker
GLADYS BARRETA
PASSION for quality vines and
wines is a trait that runs in one
Tasmanian wine-making family.
The youngest, and sixth
generation of the Lubiana family,
Marco Lubiana has been named the
best young wine maker of Australia.
For the 昀椀rst time in the
competition’s 18 years a Tasmanian
will take home the Young Gun of
Wine award – a celebration of the
impressive and thriving viticulture
industry in Tasmania.
Scouring the country for emerging
talent and those adding glitter to the
scene, the competition recognises
young winemakers re-shaping the
industry.
Marco, son of renowned
Tasmanian winemaker, Stefano
Lubiana, has shone under the
spotlight for his consistency,
leadership and the thoughtprovoking process of his
winemaking.
Producing consistent premium
wines for the last 昀椀ve releases for
Marco is an ode to the quality of the
soil, the vines and the grapes.
And since he puts his heart and
soul into his parents’ vineyard,
working full time at Stefano
Lubiana Wines at Granton, Marco
plays an integral part in building
the quality of the vineyard and the
brand.
Marco sells two varieties of wine,
the Huon and Derwent Pinot Noir
and a chardonnay.
He says the choice to keep
pouring all the heart and soul into
just two varieties keeps his quality
consistent.
“I don’t want to extend myself
to doing other wine styles because
“I am trying to make something
techniques as hands-off and nonI wouldn’t pull it off as well, so I
that is a bit more comparable to the
re昀氀ective of him as a winemaker.
want to just focus on my two wines
wines in Europe.”
“You can see more of the
because I love them and that’s why
Little details like using a cork
vineyard, terroir and the soil type in
I put so much effort, time and love
in his wines to improve the ageing
my wines.
into them,” he said.
process are things Marco thinks
“Let the wine speak of the
“Winemaking takes a lot of effort. about.
place instead of making wine
“This award celebrates the hard
He is a one-man-band from
into something I want because I
work that has gone into
believe that is not the
my wine and my brand
winemakers’ job.
I
have
that
relationship
with
my
dad
for the last seven years.
“The winemakers’ job
where we do talk a lot so I am learn- is to carry that fruit into
“Whether I win
awards or not, I will
ing more than the average winemaker. the bottle with as little
still be making wines
impact as possible.”
MARCO LUBIANA
because I love doing it.”
Having always helped
Marco applauds that
in the vineyard, it was
premium wines are
natural for Marco to have
昀椀nally getting the spotlight and says growing the grapes he uses to
an established understanding of
it all comes down to the quality of
putting the labels on the bottles.
quality vines.
the grapes.
Marco takes more than a year to
For Marco the love for
“I am making something special
make his wines and is currently just
winemaking stems from the love of
and high quality and I really put a
doing the labelling process for his
good tasting wine and the constant
lot of detail into the process and
next release, his 2023 batch of pinot lessons learnt along the way.
something that is interesting and
noir and chardonnay.
He spent some time in Burgundy
ages for a long time in a bottle.
He describes his winemaking
working a vintage, studied
12 TASMANIAN COUNTRY Friday, July 5, 2024
‘
winemaking and viticulture at the
University of Adelaide and gained
experience working for his parents’
vinyeard and seeing how his father
worked.
It was not until 2018 when he
dabbled with winemaking that his
love for winemaking grew.
“Following my dad around in
the vineyard, I thought I’d give
winemaking a go.
“Wine has such a strong history
to it and is pretty much made all
around the world.”
“I have that relationship with
my dad where we do talk a lot so I
am learning more than the average
winemaker.
“I take small risks in my
winemaking to keep it interesting
but I am usually getting inspiration
from winmekaers in France.
“I experiment to an extent but
very carefully and methodically,”
he said.
His art is strongly in昀氀uenced
by European wines and places
like Burgundy in France which is
famous for its burgundy wines as
well as pinot noirs and chardonnay,
chablis and beaujolais.
“I read a lot of history books
related to Burgundy and how they
used to make wines before they had
technology so I try and use as many
of those elements as I can in my
winemaking,” Marco said.
“I drink a lot of wines from
all over the world and Tasmania
de昀椀nitely punches above its
weight for the quality of its wine
considering how small we are.
“Tasmanians work really hard and
we are committed to quality and
we are always putting in that extra
effort,” he said.
