Andrew Margan on Hunter Valley Winemaking and Racehorses

0:00 Inside the barrel room at the winery

Steve 0:00 Stephen, Sean here from Kurrinda Bloodstock. We are in the Barrel Room here at Morgan Estate with founder owner Andrew Morgan. Andrew, thanks for having us. Andrew Morgan Estate Five Star Winery and the relevance why we wanted to come and have a chat. When our owners visit the farm, they can't get there without driving past your cellar door and restaurant. Andrew Morgan Estate So there could be some synergies there. In the Barrel Room, what happens in here?

Andrew Morgan 0:34 Andrew Morgan Well, I originally built this area in 2007. I built the winery in 97, but built this front part in 2007, rammed earth, you know, to have the hospitality side of what we do, being the cellar door and the restaurant and our offices. Andrew Morgan Estate So while we were at it, I thought I'd build a barrel room. This is all rammed earth, so it's, you know, local gravel. Andrew Morgan Estate It's got great thermal mass, so it keeps very stable temperature, which is really good for storing wine in. Andrew Morgan Estate So it'd be a good spot to put all our barrels, which is what we started with, you know, we have about 300 odd barrels. Andrew Morgan Estate But what we found happening was that people wanted to get married and have events here all the time. Andrew Morgan Estate So every weekend, Fridays, we'd spend half the day pulling all the barrels out so you could put the tables in and then Monday bring them back and then Friday. Andrew Morgan Estate So it got to the point was a bit ridiculous. So we now we have a lot of events in here. Andrew Morgan Estate We still keep a certain amount of barrels, but we have to build another barrel shed out the backs, which is really ugly. Andrew Morgan Estate No one wants to get married in it. And the barrels can just stay there.

1:33 How this year's harvest is going

Steve 1:33 Andrew Morgan Estate And it's late January harvest time. Is this vintage number 50 for you? Andrew Morgan Estate 53 53 53. Okay. And has it been a good year?

Andrew Morgan 1:43 Andrew Morgan Estate So far? Yeah, I think yeah, no, what we've picked to date, which is about 80 tons out of 400. Andrew Morgan Estate So looks really good. I mean, we've got really cold nights. I don't know if you noticed 12 degrees last night again, you know, and that has a real impact on the wine quality in terms of keeping our acidity high and the fruit flavors are ripening, sugars are getting there. Andrew Morgan Estate So it's a bit of a good time. And the weather's always testy here, but that's just life. And as a result, yeah, no, we have, we, I think we can have a really good year. Crop's quite high for a change. So that's interesting. But yeah.

2:18 A typical day during harvest

Steve 2:18 Andrew Morgan Estate And what's the typical day during harvest?

Andrew Morgan 2:20 Andrew Morgan Estate Typical day is, I'm usually up about four or before, the harvester starts about four. So the son and I, given we live on the property, we get things going down the winery and get out the harvest to make sure everything's being done what is supposed to be done. But the decision I've made about picking, you only know that really once the fruit starts coming out of the press. So, you know, I'm pretty anxious that I've made the right decision because you can't put it back. And that's the most vital decision you make as a winemaker is picking. Andrew Morgan Estate And from there, the day just unfolds very rapidly. So, you know, we, we, we process around anywhere between 20, 30 tons of grapes a day. And with the team, there's grape juice going everywhere. There's grapes going everywhere. There's, I've got to go out to the vineyard a lot to see what's in front of us, you know, to see what, how the grapes are ripening. Andrew Morgan Estate Got a bit of disease pressure around right now. So, you know, there's a bit of anxiety around that. So yeah, a lot of walking around vineyards eating grapes. Yeah.

Steve 3:23 Andrew Morgan Now, I met my wife at the, at the, at the bar at uni. So I thought I was the, the only romantic, but it sounds like you had a similar story yourself.

3:33 Studying agriculture and starting in wine

Andrew Morgan 3:33 Andrew Morgan I think probably a lot of people meet their wives in the bar if they go to uni. Yeah, no, look, I went, I actually studied agriculture my first degree at Hawkesbury. Andrew Morgan And, and was in the wine industry even back then. And the wine industry was pretty dull back in the early eighties. So I went back and studied environmental sciences. Andrew Morgan And while I was doing that, yeah, I ran the Lisa in the bar and that was nearly 40 years ago. So obviously it was meant to be.

4:03 Murray Tyrrell and six years in France

Steve 4:03 Andrew Morgan You've been around Hunter Valley wineries all your life. And so what sort of impact was Murray Tyrrell to you?

Andrew Morgan 4:10 Andrew Morgan Well, yeah, interesting. Murray was, it was a larger than life character and he certainly was a massive influence on the wine industry, generally speaking, which is a lot smaller back then. Andrew Morgan But you know, he took Tyrrells from a small company into a massive wine business. And I was, I was involved in, in Tyrrells through all that period. He was like a second father to me. He, you know, took me under his wing. He was my mentor. And basically I worked just about did every job in Tyrrells bar being an accountant over my 20 odd years.

Steve 4:38 Andrew Morgan Right. And before you built Morgan Estate, you spent, I think six years in France?

Andrew Morgan 4:45 Andrew Morgan Yeah, I was flying winemaker. So that meant flying between Australia and France. So doing the harp, doing the, we'd fly home for Christmas, do the harvest in the Hunter Valley, fly out about April at the end of harvest there and fly back into France and then do nine months there. Andrew Morgan Harvest to start there in August and go through to December. So there's a lot, lot of harvest time in a year. And then two a year. Yeah, I did that for probably six years. I've still actually, I've done the last four or five vintages in Germany. Andrew Morgan Right. Andrew Morgan So we still go back, mate, do a collaboration of Riesling and bring it into Australia. Andrew Morgan Yeah. Andrew Morgan But yeah, it means I'm still doing two vintages a year again.

Steve 5:27 Andrew Morgan And which region in France or was it all around?

Andrew Morgan 5:29 Andrew Morgan In France, so the first year before I was married, I had a year there working in the Grave, which is south of Bordeaux. And then about three years, four years after that, went back and had a contract with a negotiation company as a flying winemaker in charge of his whole production. And we were making wine from Bordeaux all the way around to Perpignan in like in about 12 different sites. Andrew Morgan In other people's wineries and I'd fly Australian winemakers in for the harvest, we'd get the wine made, they'd fly home and I'd finish it all off and do all the production. And it was mainly being sold in the UK supermarkets and US and different countries. Yeah.

6:06 A winemaking philosophy: a bag of tools

Steve 6:06 Andrew Morgan So you've had all these different influences. And I guess you've built your own philosophy on winemaking over the years. So over the years. So is there something you do different? Or you know, what are those main influence or influences that you have? Andrew Morgan In France, what are the influences that you feel are sort of most important to your success?

Andrew Morgan 6:24 Andrew Morgan Yeah, like winemaking to me is I say to the young people who come through here, it's like accumulating a bag of tools, you know, you learn something new all the time. And everywhere you go, like I'm still learning stuff in Germany, 50 vintages down the track that I've never, never sort of had my head around before. That's really interesting with Riesling that can be applied to all white grape varieties, for example. Andrew Morgan Yeah, it's like a, you know, they're like tools you put in a bag and the more you learn, the bigger your bag gets. So when something happens, you go, oh, I know what to do here. Every year gives you something different. There's never two vintages the same. Andrew Morgan Especially working here in the in the Hunter. You know, the weather here is just all over the shop. You go to the Margaret River, it's just every year is the same. The weather is just always great, you know, but here it's, it's, it's a massive, massive challenge. Andrew Morgan But it's a good one. I mean, I've only ever made wine here all my life. And, you know, I understand how it works. I understand how to grow grapes here. I do know that my biggest thing is that I grow all my own grapes. Like I don't buy anything, because I'm pretty strong on making sure that the fruit that I grow is done in a certain way that produces a certain wine and you know, Margaret Wines is, is different to everyone else's. It's not better or worse, just different.

7:42 Barbera and Albarino in the Hunter

Steve 7:42 Andrew Morgan And Hunter Valley, obviously, all the usual suspects, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Semi-On, etcetera. But you've had some great success with some experimental grapes. Barbera, Albarno, Gratiana, I think. But what could you tell us about those?

Andrew Morgan 8:01 Andrew Morgan Yeah, well, you know, every, every so often, and like this is another year. Last year was one, the year before. We say we should rip out all the Shiraz and plant it with Barbera. I mean, the the way that those grapes ripen is so much more suited to the climate that we have here than Shiraz is. You know the chemistry of those grapes at full ripeness and of Albarino they're very high naturally high acid varieties and with the you know increased warming of the planet what we're seeing is loss of acid in grapes and yet so those two got amazing acidity at full ripeness and as a winemaker that's what you want so you know ideally we'd have all Albarino and Barbera but look Simeon's reasonably high in naturally acid variety too but Shiraz isn't but you know I like just we I had the opportunity to do something different you know I spend a time in Spain spend a bit of time in Italy you know what do I like to drink what I want to do this different you know pioneering something is an interesting path to go on because you know Simeon's got 200 years of history here so I'm looking at people like Turrells and understanding what they've done and how and the result of those wines 20-30 years down the track I don't have anyone's Barbera or Albarino in front of me that I can say oh this is you know maybe if I did this I could make it better so I have to learn every vintage has been a learning experience and I think I'm making much better Albarino today than I

9:28 Racehorses and Melbourne Cup memories

Steve 9:28 was six years ago interesting and obviously successful business and you've now owned racehorses for a number of years yeah I always as growing up I love

Andrew Morgan 9:42 the I love the racehorses in the game and I loved horses and I got an opportunity to buy into a syndicate with some other people and it's gone from there that was that's about 20 years ago now so yeah can you do you recall you you know

Steve 10:02 your earliest memory or the first Melbourne Cup runner or winner that you

Andrew Morgan 10:06 that you backed anything like that yeah that's I should have given that a bit more thought my first Melbourne Cup no actually I can't I've been I've been betting on the Melbourne Cup since yeah I'll try and think of the first one I can remember winning how about that you just leave that one with me it'll come to me that's

Steve 10:28 good and you had a horse in the big dance last I had two last two big dancers

Andrew Morgan 10:35 yeah so yeah un-American year before last with Richard Friedman and he was a he was a good horse but he's a stayer he probably won about five right he's still racing we had to sell it we sold him but we're floating this year's big dance had shocking ride you know 46 lengths last or something in the in the back straight so he was never gonna get there but at the best last 600 as he died you know as you know jockey boys blames the horse so that was it that was disappointing but then he went on and won the ATC he's won seven races and over 600,000 bucks so he's been exciting we're setting him for the next next year's this year's Melbourne Cup so by the Dermont Cup that's

Steve 11:19 that we've already got a plan set out so brilliant yeah and is it the Melbourne Cup is that the race

11:24 The goal of breeding a Melbourne Cup winner

Andrew Morgan 11:24 that you'd love to win most when um so when we uh we we had this good horse in the syndicate you know first horse good horse that's always a danger uh Einstein and uh he won over he won over a million bucks and and a friend of mine that I got into Einstein with his other other group of mates um him and I decided to keep on going with horses just the two of us do a partnership took singo's advice and get try and get the right mares or fillies um which we were doing through Gerald Ryan and Matthew Smith at the time and um got a few uh different fillies and and race them and you know they didn't necessarily do any good any of them really but um then started breeding from them one in particular it never raced or two never raced because of leg injuries um both turned out to be good mares so um since little mayor Goujon um she has had three horses for us that were have been winners including floating um but our goal goal was always to defy the the industry and breed a Melbourne cup winner in Australia and um the industry does everything it possibly can to not allow that to happen which is pretty bizarre I reckon

12:42 Breeding for speed and the Australian industry

Steve 12:42 well that's right we've just come away from Magic Millions with with six new yearlings and you know they're all bred for early speed so it's a complete opposite as to yeah I mean the breeding industry

Andrew Morgan 12:51 the the the whole industry is not built around it's built around people spending their money in in Europe bringing horses here or people from Europe bringing their horses here and taking all their money back I mean it just seems bizarre that you know you've got so many group races over 2,000 meters and yet we've got an industry that doesn't support the breeding horses to win those races is crazy

Steve 13:14 well it sounds like a great um I know nothing about wine by the way zero don't drink it never have but I'm keen to try it now but uh I'm just learning along the way so uh there was interest I didn't know how much was involved in like this so come and have a walk through and you'll see so much science behind

Andrew Morgan 13:34 it people do four-year science degree it's the study wine let alone uh all the research institutes and well they spend their whole time time researching the the topic yeah half of the words you said

Steve 13:47 I've never heard before but it was it was interesting beautiful cellar door beautiful restaurant um we'll spend our fair sharing to a wedding here it was bloody fantastic yeah yeah it was really good I don't know was it is it in here yeah yeah but I don't these weren't here I don't think that maybe

Andrew Morgan 14:04 not what we find is when people come in and have functions they tend to forget yeah yeah which alcohol can do that