“I guess my path in life was set in stone without me knowing it,” Owen Latta says. “The wine industry is all I’ve ever known my whole life. My parents planted a vineyard in the ultra-cool climate near Ballarat in the early 1980s; I was born just after the vineyard was planted.” While he may have always been destined to enter the wine industry, fate gave him a rather large nudge in early 1999. “I was 15, returning home one afternoon from school to find out that Dad had had an accident, tripping over a winery hose which resulted in severe concussion,” Owen says. “I was told I would have to step up to look after the cellar and do as he would do.” Owen tackled this role with commendable energy, performing punch-downs in the morning before catching the bus to school with wine stains on his uniform. It was a formative experience, and one that made him start thinking about his winemaking philosophy at an age when most people don’t know what subjects they would like to study at university, let alone what career path they’d like to take: “If winemaking was all about adding and correcting things, pushing styles and fast trends, not emphasising the vineyard and place, I would probably have found another career path to follow and nurture my creativity in another field,” he says.
University studies in wine science followed, alongside vintages in the Yarra Valley and Burgundy, but there was never a question of Owen leaving the vineyard he grew up in. “I’m born and bred in Coghills Creek,” he says. “I love the ultra-cool climate, the diverse volcanic soils, the elevation, and what this provides to produce very distinctive wines from this unique terroir.” Owen’s mother, Dianne, had identified the site as having the potential to grow fine pinot noir, a suspicion that was confirmed by Australian wine icon Trevor Mast, who was looking for potential new growers. Under Mast’s supervision, the first vines were planted in late 1983, with the fruit initially being sold to Mast for Mount Langi Ghiran wines. Mast later encouraged Dianne and Norman to make wines from their own fruit, and assisted with the design of the on-site winery. Minimal intervention in the cellar was the ethos from the beginning – Owen recalls Mast advising his parents, “This is an incredible vineyard site. Get the vineyard right every year, and producing the wine in the cellar will be a breeze.” Being outside of an established regional GI also has its advantages. “I love that we are not in a wine region, which has enabled me to set my own vision and ethos that is directly influenced by our own topography, terroir and farming practices,” Owen says. “In turn this has directly influenced the wine style: great wines start in the vineyard, not in the cellar.”
“I look at myself and wonder if I had or have some kind of undiagnosed hyperactivity disorder or something … the vast array of wine styles that have been produced in the cellar is sometimes staggering.”
Returning to the family farm wasn’t always smooth sailing, and Owen has since had to dig into the reserves of willpower and stamina that got him through that first formative vintage. Initially there was not enough money in the business to pay Owen a wage – which meant that between 2009 and 2016 he performed double duty as winemaker at another winery an hour’s drive away from home as well as managing Eastern Peake. During this time he also launched his negociant wine label, Latta Vino, which focuses on more experimental, lo-fi offerings, and helped his wife, Jen, open the Daylesford wine bar Winespeake. “Looking back at the journey I’ve been on from a young 15 year old to now as a 40 year old, it’s hard to fathom all of the individual wines produced,” he says. “The crossover between the serious fine wines that speak of place and identity to the friendly sessionable fun wines and all the ones in-between. I look at myself and wonder if I had or have some kind of undiagnosed hyperactivity disorder or something … the vast array of wine styles that have been produced in the cellar is sometimes staggering.”
While his output has been prodigious, Owen’s winemaking philosophy has been refined to a point of elegant simplicity. “I wouldn’t like to say I’m ever trying to emulate a favoured region, an iconic producer or current wine trend,” he says. “I’ve always tried to think further ahead to forge my own path with my own styles – all I’ve ever wanted to be is just myself. I also don’t want to have the mark of a winemaker on the wines. I like the gentle approach in the cellar that brings the vineyard into focus more so than the stamp of winemaking.” He recalls being shocked at the focus on additives during his formal winemaking education, saying, “I was very against this mindset from first hand experience that a good vineyard in the right spot with the correct farming can give you everything you need.” He adds: “All wines produced at our address in Coghills Creek are fermented with naturally occurring indigenous yeast. No sulphur is added until the completion of malolactic fermentation. I have never added acid to juice, must or wines. No fining or filtering takes place on any wine. I solely rely on a cold cellar, time on lees, and time to finish wines prior to bottling. An unforced approach is my philosophy.”
It’s an approach that isn’t without it’s challenges. “Producing wine without sulphur and adjustments can definitely take things on such a wild ride,” Owen says. “The peaks and troughs during a wine’s élevage can vary month to month sometimes week to week. I’ve found that using low to no sulphur is best at the the beginning, and a little at the end after malolactic conversion, pre-bottling. I like that all of my cuvées go through this progression – it helps them build up a resilience, provide longevity, and push delicious textures whilst keeping a line of distinction.”
Owen’s practices in the Eastern Peake vineyard – regenerative, uncertified organic – work hand-in-glove with his approach in the cellar. “For me, farming with best practice is everything,” he says. “For well over a decade I’ve been running an organic/regenerative agriculture program on our estate to improve soil structure, microbiology, and vine health. I can see the direct impact on the wines from all of the thoughtful inputs over the many seasons … I just love seeing the vineyard blocks produce perfect grapes without any chemicals and from the best organic practices to become pure fine wines produced with their own indigenous yeast from the vineyard, with absolutely no additions outside of only very small amounts of sulphur.”
“Some blocks or vineyards are harvested multiple times to capture the style, freshness, ripeness and texture. I like to use the vineyard as the colour pallet with multiple harvests, and not the winery to correct the fruit with additions.”
Working regeneratively and eschewing additions in the winery means that picking times are crucial – especially in a changing climate. “Lots can be done throughout the growing season to protect the crops from the variable climates year to year, but as a farmer and vigneron I’ve seen how quickly we need to act on harvesting the vineyards at the right time to avoid high sugars and over-ripeness which results in high alcohols, over-the-top flavours, and loss of acid,” Owen says. “The sites we farm and our growers we work with are all well aware of nailing harvest dates and getting them exactly right. For me harvesting at the correct time is the most crucial part of winemaking. Some blocks or vineyards are harvested multiple times to capture the style, freshness, ripeness and texture. I like to use the vineyard as the colour pallet with multiple harvests, and not the winery to correct the fruit with additions.”
Having fine-tuned his approach and ethos, Owen’s eye is now on future-proofing. “I love the current size of both Eastern Peake and Latta’s production,” he says. “I’m definitely not looking to upscale our volume to become a larger producer – I like being a smaller scale vigneron that deals with each season as it comes to hand. The next big thing for us is planting new vineyards close to the winery to secure our grape production of both labels, and make Latta Vino a bit more domaine-focused from its current négociant status. I think that our area is such an incredible place to grow grapes, and now is the time to invest for the future.” The oldest vines at Eastern Peake have been lavished with attention to, in Owen’s words, “make sure they’re around for another 40 years or more”, while he’s also setting up the Latta Vino label for longevity. “For well over a decade now, I’ve had heaps of fun playing around with different cuvées in the cellar,” he says. “Over the next five to ten years I’d love to purchase some land close to the winery to plant a new vineyard to specialise in growing more of our own fruit using our own organic practices. As I mature more as a producer, the farming of vineyard is becoming more and more important than what happens in the cellar.”
GET FIRST ACCESS TO THE NEXT WINE ICONS – DELIVERED
Find out moreEach month, get 3 bottles of our freshest discoveries. We taste thousands to bring you the best.
Join us and support emerging winemakers, sustainable vineyards, and the development of young professionals.
Please sign in or create account as candidate to bookmark this job
Please sign in or create account to save this search
Please sign in or create account as candidate to create a resume
