Alisdair Tulloch neatly summarises the Aeon Wines philosophy by saying, “For me, the variety is the language that the story is written in, but the geology and climate are the story itself.” A wealth of experience is distilled into this neat and somewhat cryptic aphorism. A fifth-generation winemaker born into Australian wine royalty – his grandfather, Dr Harry Tulloch, conducted the viticultural trials that determined which shiraz clones would become most widely planted across Australia, and his father Keith Tulloch owns and operates an eponymous winery that is one of the Hunter’s most respected – Alisdair grew up in the Hunter, living and breathing grapevines and winemaking. Vintage experiences with some of the luminaries of the French wine world – including iconic Rhône producers Michel Chapoutier, Paul Jaboulet Aîné and Domaine Rostaing – sharpened his focus and passion. He currently works as operations manager and sustainability manager for Keith Tulloch Wines, and launched the Aeon range with wines from vintage 2023 as a side-hustle with his wife, Kenisha.
One of the most striking things about the Aeon project is the fact that geology is front and centre – in the case of the two single-vineyard wines, quite literally. The name Alluvium “comes from sandy alluvial soils at the Field of Mars vineyard,” Alisdair says, while Vertosol is named after “the soil type at the Tawarri Vineyard in Merriwa.” The label art reflects the geological forces that shaped each vineyard, while the grape variety or varieties used in each wine (syrah in Vertosol; syrah, touring nacional, and viognier in Alluvium) is relegated to the back label – a move that would be controversial across most of Australia, but which seems, in the Hunter Valley context, to be downright sacrilegious. The label’s third wine, their Light Dry Red, is a nod to the Hunter tradition of blending shiraz and pinot noir to form a ‘Hunter River burgundy’, and features a billowing cumulonimbus cloud on the label – a nod to the region’s famously variable and humid climate.
“The variety is the language that the story is written in, but the geology and climate are the story itself.”
Alisdair works with, rather than against, this variability when it comes to crafting the Aeon wines. “The Hunter Valley has always been a region affected by climatic variability – it’s inextricably linked to the style of wines that we make,” Alisdair says. “Being able to make red wines that have intensity at low alcohols is key to having consistently expressive syrah from the region, and this is why our vineyard management and winemaking target this goal. The use of blends in Aeon wines also plays into this, with the addition of earlier and/or later ripening varieties helping to build a consistent expression of site across a variety of seasons.” He adds, “Viognier and touriga nacional are native to warmer climates and are later ripening, whilst pinot noir is early ripening and is therefore off the vine earlier and in the winery. This spreads the risk across the season.”
Alisdair farms all of the grapes that go into the single-vineyard wines, tending to both vineyards as part of his day job at Keith Tulloch Wines. “Vertosol and Alluvium are both wines from vineyards that I manage, which means that I inherently know and understand the sites and am able to work by hand to achieve balance and expression in the fruit,” Alisdair says. “For me it’s extremely important that I am growing the fruit for the single vineyard wines, and I very specifically prune, shoot-thin and fruit-thin these blocks by hand in a way that balances each vine to create a consistent expression – respecting the unique characteristics of each vintage, of course. We also have a thorough management of soil health and biodiversity across our vineyards. The result is limiting yields in a selective way that allows us to harvest with full phenological ripeness each year, with the peak of flavour often arriving at lower Baumés (12–13) resulting in wines with lower alcohol yet full, vibrant varietal character.”
Sourcing fruit from vineyards he manages for Keith Tulloch Wines means that sustainability is baked into Aeon’s wines: “I take a lot of pride in the work we do and I’m very passionate about sustainable viticulture,” Alisdair says. “We don’t have any certifications currently for Aeon, but the philosophy and work is parallel with the work that I do at Keith Tulloch Wine, which is SWA-certified and carbon neutral.” (The Field of Mars Vineyard has been a finalist for the Young Gun of Wine Vineyard of the Year Award four years running, largely owing to the work Alisdair has put in to sustainability here.) He adds: “Newly established blocks are planted east-west and trained VSP to maximise shading on the fruit from the canopy, whilst reduced deficit irrigation and sunscreen are tools that can be used or adapted to manage heatwaves and drought in the region. The use of rootstocks for newly established vineyard is done to increase the drought resistance of the vineyard, as well as to guard against the outbreak of pests and diseases. The old-vine blocks have also all been re-trellised with tall posts and retrained to VSP rather than sprawl.”
“We spend a lifetime working with these vineyards, with these sites, and work our arses off all year. What’s the point of all that work if the nuance is hidden underneath the flavour and aroma of some French trees?”
When the fruit comes into the winery, Alisdair treats it relatively gently, aiming for a style somewhere between the classic ‘Hunter River burgundies’ of Mount Pleasant et. al. and the more savoury, nervier expressions of syrah that come from the northern Rhône, rather than the juicy, plush norm of Australian shiraz. With the exception of some of the pinot noir, all of the fruit is hand-picked and fermented in whole bunches. “New oak is kept to an absolute minimum to maximise fruit expression,” Alisdair says. “We spend a lifetime working with these vineyards, with these sites, and work our arses off all year. What’s the point of all that work if the nuance is hidden underneath the flavour and aroma of some French trees? Yes, barrel is important to a lot of wines, and all of our wines spend 12 months in French oak, [but] new barrel is kept to an absolute minimum so that the expression of site and variety are well, well ahead of the oak characters.”
“I know that 100% whole bunch wines aren’t for everyone,” Alisdair adds, “but this is a style of wine that I really enjoy and by using something from the vineyard – the stem – to create brightness, freshness and texture, I believe it brings more of the terroir to the wine. Kenisha and I don’t make wines in a way that we think people will like, we make wine in a way that we believe in – to make wines that we enjoy, and that respect their vineyard sites.”
The fact that Alisdair only works with fruit from vineyards he personally manages for the single-vineyard wines means that Aeon’s growth can hardly be exponential. “We have limited scope to increase production with the vineyard blocks we currently have,” Alisdair says. “There is another wine that will be bottled from 2024 (called Ferrosol) which is from a small vineyard we have leased in recent years, but production is tightly limited. Aeon will always be 100% Hunter Valley, and I will grow the fruit for all the single vineyard wines, so the ability to expand production – which is highly unlikely – would require the acquisition of more vineyards under my management.” Having dialled in his whole-bunch approach via extensive experience elsewhere, Alisdair isn’t looking to make any radical stylistic changes to the Aeon wines any time soon. “The type of wines that we make will really depend on what the growing seasons look like on these sites in five to 10 years,” he says. “That main core of our philosophy won’t change, which will include embracing the characters of these future vintages.”
Above all else, Aeon’s wines are love letters to the Tullochs’ home, the Hunter Valley, from the soil up. “The Hunter has everything from small niche producers that are just emerging to some of the world’s oldest and most storied wine companies, so there’s a big melting pot of ideas,” Alisdair says. “There’s also a big culture of helping our mates out – lending a hand at each other’s vineyards and wineries when it comes to crunch time is typical.” He adds, “We’re lucky in the region that there is a very close-knit community.”
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