Mark Matthews is never going to win any awards for marketing or self-promotion, so it’s just as well he’s rather diligent at his day job. The kind of green credentials practiced at this family-owned Gippsland Estate deserves to be applauded. Winegrower-ecologist Matthews has recently passed his 10th year of organic certification and has instigated a weed management program using a combination of firestick and hard labour.

As part of a widespread replanting program for both ecological and carbon-offset purposes, he has planted the 14,000th tree on the property, and since 2012 he has been slowly establishing native grasses between blocks. While we’re on a roll, he is now in his fourth year of removing weak or unsuitable vines and replacing them with massale selections. Matthews’ attention to detail also runs through his packaging program which includes specially imported, post-consumer recycled paper for his labels (printers do not offer this product in Australia), recycled, unbleached paper for his cartons and the most sustainable glass he can find—bottles that are lighter and therefore have a lower carbon footprint. We could go on.

Mount Macleod’s wines are no score junkies. These are not wines looking to make the headlines, win trophies, or the like. What we have instead is a set of great value, honest-to-goodness deliciousness from an organic Australian grower with an impressive set of values and practices.

Of course, all this eco-energy would be moot were the wines not up-to-scratch and such remarkable value. In fact, for as long as we have been in business, Matthews has quietly been going about crafting some of the keenest-priced Victorian Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on the market. Mount Macleod’s three vineyard sites, all in the Leongatha region, were selected to an exacting criterion: free-draining, high ironstone soils with pebbling throughout, and an east to north-east aspect. The vines are dry-grown and yields, which might easily blow out in the fertile Leongatha soils, are strictly controlled. In short, Matthews grows lovely, organic fruit and his simple, paired-back winemaking regime—which includes wild ferments and only neutral oak—is designed to deliver this modest message to bottle with as much honesty as possible.