Our Australian portfolio is small, and might never have existed but for a serendipitous meeting with Mac Forbes on his way back to his native Yarra Valley after some consultancy work in Austria. We have an unashamed Europhile palate here at Clark Foyster Wines, and have no intentions of covering mainstream Australia. But these wines have to fit our buying brief: cool, elegant, restrained, and refreshing. What is more, they show at a single stroke, how poor is our understanding of Australian wine as a monolithic structure dominated by 10 producers.
In 2024, we added Dylan Grigg’s Vinya Vella to our Australian portfolio. His Grenache, made from some of the oldest Grenache vines in the whole of Australia, is a wine with exceptional character and class – and it’s one we’re very pleased to show alongside Mac’s wines.
The reputation and the future of Australian wine are in the hands of producers like Mac and Dylan.
