Leigh Ritchie’s wine career began as another career ended. While chasing his ambition to become a safari guide in East Africa, Ritchie found himself in Tanzania, almost out of funds, and at a loose end. When he was offered a gig working a vintage in Israel’s Golan Heights, he leapt at the opportunity, and soon found himself working in, as he puts it, “an industry where I could balance science, creativity, passion and hard work, making a product others could enjoy.” He was pretty quickly hooked, and swiftly headed to Adelaide to complete his masters in oenology. Vintages around the world followed, including lengthy stints in California’s Napa Valley and Sonoma, where he worked for some of America’s most heralded names, including Williams Selyem, Ovid, Dalla Valle, and Screaming Eagle. Returning to Australia for the 2019 harvest, he quickly racked up winemaking experience at Australian icons Brokenwood, Best’s Great Western, Stanton & Killeen, and Mitchelton, before striking off to form Young Tree with business partner (and Mitchelton alum) Steve Bamford.
Ritchie credits his years in California with the biggest influence on Young Tree Wines’ style. “Exposure to high-quality, small-batch production and inspired thinking taught the importance of the one percent,” he says of his time there. “The guidance of the likes of Andy Erickson, Nick Gislason and Austin Peterson, honed my skills and winemaking approach. Blending with Michel Roulon exposed me to the approach and influence of respected industry leaders. I learned the importance of maintaining an inquisitive outlook and adopting the approach that you have never made your best wine.”
It was also during his time in California that Ritchie came up with the concept for Young Tree Wines, and sought the blessing of Groundation’s lead singer Harrison Stafford to name the label after the band’s debut. “I have always wanted to express the knowledge gained in my working career by producing my own wines,” Ritchie says. “In 2022 the opportunity to begin making presented itself. The pivotal point for the business came in 2024 when I partnered with Steve Bamford, which provided the focus and stability for the project to evolve from a hobby into a business.” And the meaning of the label name for Ritchie? “Messages of creative expression and growth over time resonate,” he says. “Many threads interweave which both tie the foundation of this label to the beginning of my journey, and also help to ground my approach to an ethos that stretches beyond winemaking itself.”
“Find good grapes and produce wines that suit the fruit. Never the other way around.”
Ritchie’s winemaking philosophy is relatively simple. “I produce wines with tension and elegance,” he says. “By maintaining a focus on high quality fruit and small-batch ferments, I craft wines that are true to the vineyards from which the fruit is sourced and the season in which the wine is made.” It all starts with the fruit itself. “A lot of thought has gone into the wine styles that I produce and the growers and regions that I source from,” Ritchie adds. “Ultimately, great wine requires great fruit – and, on this point, I don’t compromise. Find good grapes and produce wines that suit the fruit. Never the other way around.”
Once he has his hands on the best fruit he can source, Ritchie tries to do the least possible to it. “My approach is to be as hands off as possible,” he says. “With that said, high quality is the ultimate goal. If additions are required – sulphur and tartaric acid – I will use them, only as needed and with consideration.” He’s not at all doctrinaire about his approach, adapting as he sees fit to best express the quality of the fruit he sources. “There is no right or wrong approach to winemaking,” he adds. “There are approaches that will make better or worse wines, but if you are considerate toward the fruit, the season and the final wine you are trying to achieve, good wine will result. In my experience many rules can be bent or broken, but you need to understand them to do so.”
It’s early days yet for Young Tree Wines, with only two vintages (2022 and 2023) having seen release thus far. Ritchie is confident about the label’s potential, though. “The first phase of the label is to identify the optimal regions and growers for each variety,” he says. “From there, fine tune the winemaking to best express the fruit, this will govern the wines produced. The style is expected to evolve over time, always striving to improve.” His motivation is clear. “A desire to produce high quality, style-focused wines that reflect an unwavering commitment to authenticity, passion and hard work is what drives me,” he says. “Young Tree Wines gives me the freedom to choose my own path by expressing myself through nature, art and science. Hence the motto, ‘Freedom found through expression of craft’.” Now Ritchie just has to keep working and remain patient. Or, as he puts it, “The seed has been planted, and now sets its roots as it begins to grow into the Young Tree.”
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