Not long after completing their respective PhDs in medicine and chemistry, Maree Collis and Ray Nadeson’s dream of establishing a vineyard had become impossible to ignore. Inspired by the great grower wines from Europe’s great vineyards, their search began in 1993 with one question: How best to realise comparable distinction and character of the wines they were drinking from Australian soils?

“We thought about it as a problem that needed to be explored,” says Ray. “We did what we would have done on any scientific project: to deconstruct the whole thing down to the atoms and then put it back together again.” So, with a science-led mindset, they began their search for the perfect site. It took three years of painstaking research, poring over maps and analysing soils, rocks and weather patterns.

In 1996, Maree and Ray found their perfect site in the heart of Geelong’s Moorabool Valley. Although they did not realise it at the time, the same patch of dirt could trace its viticultural roots back to 1874, when it was initially planted by Swiss immigrants before phylloxera devastated the region’s vineyards. While juggling their busy professional schedules and young family, Ray and Maree began the project of replanting the vineyard in that first year. By 2003, they had left their day jobs and were working full-time amongst the vines. Today, the site is home to seven hectares planted to a patchwork of varieties—Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Gamay, Shiraz, Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Franc—all segmented by blocks and clones.

Ray and Maree wanted to farm organically from day one for fruit that fit the precise profile they had in their mind’s eye: pure, potent, layered wines with driving freshness and the stamp of provenance. The lofty, breezy, cool, dry, rocky Lethbridge site had it all. The Lethbridge vineyard—sitting at 270 metres elevation and located 30 kilometres northwest of Geelong—is the Valley’s coolest site. The thin black-clay topsoils lie over two tongues of ancient lava flows—bluestone and honeycomb basalt—formed by volcanic activity 30-50,000 years ago. These volcanic layers lie over a limestone base, resulting in low yields that ripen slowly and thoroughly, and retain freshness despite the Moorabool’s dry climate.

In the vineyard, the health of the soil and vines comes first. Pruning practices are gentle, and canopies are managed to limit disease pressure rather than taking a more conventional approach—the only sprays used are accredited organic or biodynamic. Straw mulch can be found between rows, increasing carbon and preserving moisture in the soil. Cover crops are used year-round, including clover, radishes, cornflowers, sunflowers, oats, vetch, and more. Yields are staggeringly low, with some blocks mustering just seven hl/ha in a good year.

Ray and Maree also source fruit from a selection of sites across the broader Geelong region and beyond, including the Hat Rock vineyard on the Bellarine Peninsula and the Rebenberg vineyard on Mount Duneed, plus the famed Malakoff vineyard in the Pyrenees. Like the Lethbridge home site, these were selected for their ability to slowly ripen low yields while maintaining high levels of natural acidity. Relationships with their growers are long-standing, and the farming philosophies mirror those of the Lethbridge team.

Although the quality and character of the site are central to the Lethbridge ethos. Ray doesn’t underplay his team’s role in the equation, emphasising how best to cut distortion and placing each vineyard’s unique attributes into sharp focus. “My viticultural approach is not dissimilar to my winemaking approach,” he says. “It’s to create the frame to highlight the components of that soil that I want you to think about when you taste the wines. Not just soil but place. Soil is a component of place, as are climate and intention; the intention of the person, of the team.”

In the cellar, Nadeson follows instinct as much as intellect. Together with his right-hand man, Crimea-born winemaker Vasily Pestretsov, they “frame nature” by removing little and adding less. There’s no recipe per se, and they constantly make micro-decisions throughout the process, ferment by ferment in search of balance, texture and layers of complexity. Spontaneous ferments occur in wood custom-built for Lethbridge by one cooper, according to Ray’s tight-grain, low-toast specifications. All wines go through malolactic conversion; the whites see some skin contact, and whole bunches and new oak are used depending on vintage and variety. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered with scripted labels from Ray’s diary. “I’m more interested in the hows than the whys,” says Ray. “So you get a little bit of the ‘why’ with every bottle.”

In the glass, each Lethbridge wine is a candid expression of its site, season and soil. They are not primary, fruit-forward wines; they follow their own muse, leading with structure, texture, savouriness and definitive freshness. These are proud Australian wines for the head, heart and table.