Greg Melick kicked off Pressing Matters in 1980, planting tight – two metre rows, one metre vines – in a French twist that was rare for Tassie then. “Greg chose to use French-style close planting techniques for his vines,” Hoey says, which “has the advantage of maximising the potential derived the volcanic limestone on the property to add minerality and texture to the wines.” This bet on quality over yield – “high-density, moderate-yield, high-quality”, as Hoey pithily phrases it – has since trended across the island. The density here isn’t just measured in vines per hectare – it can also be measured in the sheer diversity of rootstock and clone combinations rubbing shoulders across the complicated topography of the vineyard. “Various aspects and elevations of vines across the property, together with over 30 combinations of clones and rootstocks, create differences in flavour, with a unique texture and mineral quality,” Hoey says.
That unique texture isn’t just down to how the vineyard is planted – it’s also a product of the vineyard’s terroir. “We enjoy an exceptional micro-climate for our wines, unique to anywhere else in the Coal River valley,” Hoey says. “Our calcium-rich soil from our volcanic limestone coupled with high magnesium in the black clay topsoil provides a fertile base for great fruit.” Cool Coal River Valley breezes – which can plunge the vineyard down to 10°C at night after 25°C days – slows the accumulation of sugar in the fruit and allows for full physiological and phenological ripening. “[Our] fruit ripens later than the rest of the Coal River Valley by about three weeks, leading to even further [flavour] development. The cool climate coupled with our cooling influences of the valley lead to fantastic growing conditions for our cool climate varieties, and produces wines distinctive for their deep fruit and acid and structure.”
Pinot grown here shows a flinty depth, rather than the lean zip that characterises other Tasmanian regions like Pipers River. The volcanic soils give the estate’s riesling a steely spine, allowing it to gracefully bear the differing weights of four precisely calibrated residual sugar levels. (While the inspiration may be the crystalline, scintillating off-dry wines of the Mosel, the sugar levels here are clearly and succinctly noted on the label – R0, R9, R69 and R139 – which may come as a relief to anyone who has tried and failed to figure out exactly how sweet the Spätlese they’re eyeing off at the wine shop is before taking it home.) With fruit this good, they can take a minimalist approach in the cellar, “leaving our wines uncomplicated by overly excessive winery interventions and letting our exceptional fruit speak for itself,” as Hoey puts it.
The winemaking may be simple, but the viticulture is not. In addition to the mosaic of clones and rootstocks across varied aspects and elevations, the orientation of the rows varies between varieties – north-south for pinot, east-west for riesling. Vines are on trained to vertical shoot positioning trellis, and cane-pruned with what Hoey calls “high levels of canopy management”: shoot thinning, leaf plucking, and crop thinning are de rigeur. Weed-whacking is done by hand or machine rather than via herbicide. Low-level drip irrigation slips the vines tiny sips of water from dams when necessary. Harvest pragmatically splits the difference between hand-picking (for the more delicate riesling and pinot) and machine-harvesting (for the thicker-skinned cabernet). “We believe that we have an extremely special terroir,” Hoey says, and the detailed viticulture here is all about letting that terroir speak as clearly as possible.
Soil health here is a marathon, not a sprint. “Light tillage undervine and in the midrow brings in oxygen,” Hoey says. Green manure crops – legumes and grasses – build both nutrients and resilience underfoot. “Soil drains better, [with] better infiltration rates,” he observes. “Old prunings and leaf matter recycle better [with] more fungi in the vineyard.” Deep ripping in the rows remediates the compaction from decades of boots and wheels; shoots stretch longer with less fertilizer. “Years of good practice [has] led to a vineyard that supports itself growing great fruit,” Hoey reflects. “Sam and Luke, our winemakers, speak of stewardship of our fruit. We are here to let them create their own voice in the glass.” Organic fungicides rule the roost here; chemicals creep in only when wet seasons bite. In Hoey’s words, Pressing Matters adopts “a fairly gentle and organic approach to our disease management, however in tough seasons we do mitigate our risk with sensitive use of chemicals.” Hoey’s philosophy is simple: “Vineyard management should be uncomplicated … treat the land well.”
That sensible, light-touch approach to sustainability extends beyond organic inputs and cover crops in the vineyard, and into the operations of the winery more broadly. Solar panels sit on the winery building roofs, slashing Pressing Matters’ carbon footprint, and “we provide an EV charger so that people with electric vehicles can visit with ease,” says Hoey. “Our new winery also allows us to reduce our carbon footprint by processing all our fruit on-site, saving costs and CO₂ in chilling, transporting, and making wine at an off-site facility. This also leads to more attention to pay to our grapes during their fermentation and maturation, leading to better products in the glass.” A brand-new cellar door, completed in 2023, and onsite bottling – bye-bye contract services – means that Pressing Matters can, in Hoey’s words, “grow our direct to customer sale.” – a welcome buffer against Tasmanian winemaking’s otherwise tight margins. Above the vines, the she-oaks of Hammonds Tier host swift parrots, wedge-tailed eagles, wallabies and echidnas, guarded by an informal pact Pressing Matters struck with their neighbors to save this forest from clearing.
It all comes together in in the glass. “Cuveé C has seen the most changes and trials over recent years,” Hoey says. Hoey has collaborated with Malick to intensively work on the block this wine is made from, the ‘Trial Block’, which, in Hoey’s words, “provides us with the best quality fruit. With the attention to detail around careful canopy management and clone selection, 2022 is the first vintage of Cuvée C harvested only from this trial block as the truest expression of all our winemaking and viticulture philosophies. Luke is excited to see where all that effort into the ‘Trial Block’ leads in the future as the fruit will continue to increase in quality year after year.” For Hoey, it’s a relief to be able to hand the best possible fruit over to the Pressing Matters winemaking team.
“Now that the hard yards of working the vines, soil and water are dealt with, my philosophy is just to gently look after our beautiful fruit. The biggest challenges are behind us, and now the most important parts of my role are looking after our new plantings and, more importantly, keeping our wonderful winemakers happy.”
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