Ling’s entry into the industry was, by his own description, unexpected – a favour to his soccer coach that led to a lab assistant role in Mudgee in 2000, from which he never really looked back. Twenty-five vintages later, he is now head winemaker across both Carillion Wines and Pepper Tree Wines, while simultaneously running his own label, Agitate Wines, with his wife. “I’ve managed to double my workload somehow,” he says, with characteristic understatement. His Mudgee years were formative, with significant time at Simon Gilbert, Logan Wines and Oatley Wines, where Peter Logan and Simon Gilbert both invested in his development. “I owe both of these guys a lot for the time and faith they put in me,” he says. A harvest in Germany in 2010 and vintages in Italy, New Zealand and the UK added further breadth before Ling transitioned to senior roles in 2016, taking a winemaker position at Pepper Tree Wines in the Hunter Valley and then moving to Carillion as senior winemaker in 2017.
The Tallavera Grove vineyard is the foundation of the most compelling wines Ling makes. Established in 1994 by the Davis family from cuttings taken from the famous Braemore vineyard, it sits in the Mount View subregion of the Hunter on limestone soils – a distinctive geology that imparts a minerality and structure uncommon in the broader Hunter floor. Vines are now approaching 30 years of age, and Ling believes they are only now hitting their stride. “The Tallavera vineyard is almost 30 years old, and starting to hit its straps,” he says. “The vines are growing in the renowned limestone soils and producing fruit that proves the quality of the site.” Tim Davis, the owner, focuses primarily on vineyard operations; Ling leads the winemaking and stylistic direction, with key decisions made collaboratively.
The Lovable Rogue range is Ling’s creative playground within the Carillion portfolio – a series of Italian varieties made with hands-on, technique-driven winemaking that sits well outside the Hunter’s traditional semillon and shiraz territory. The current Lovable Rogue lineup includes fiano, montepulciano, vermentino, sagrantino and a skin-contact vermentino, all from the Tallavera Grove site. The fiano is lees-stirred for texture and complexity; the montepulciano is a new addition, now in its second year of production. “We’re really enjoying working with these varieties and we’re gaining valuable experience and confidence in the vineyard and the winery with every vintage,” he says. “They are eminently suited with food, and that’s the style we are looking to produce – wines with texture and balanced natural acidity.”
The focus from here is refinement rather than expansion. The business is now entirely NSW-focused, which Ling sees as a strength. “We are basically 100% NSW focussed now and this won’t change,” he says. “We have taken huge steps in the last 10 years and with a little bit of fine tuning, I’m confident that in five years, the wines being produced will be better than ever.” Concrete vessels are being introduced for the 2026 vintage on semillon and chardonnay, with yeast and malolactic fermentation experiments also underway. Twenty-five vintages in, Ling is still finding new questions to ask of the Hunter.
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