MATTHEW’S WINDOW TO A NEW WORLD!
Before he became an award-winning winemaker, Matthew di Sciascio ran a window manufacturing business.
In one of those lovely little twists life can throw up from time to time, he even supplied windows during the construction of Geelong Technology Precinct, little knowing that not long after, that very same building would be providing him with a window to a very different world.
Matthew, these days part-owner and chief wine-maker
at Bellbrae Estate wines, a vineyard tucked neatly just off the Great
Ocean Road near Torquay, is one of the star graduates from the Cool Climate
Wine Making course at Deakin.
The course, and the man behind it, Associate Professor Duncan McGillivery,
are housed in the GTP.
“I could never have achieved the success I have had without the knowledge and experience I gained at Deakin and without the support of Duncan,” said Matthew.
“I had been making wine as a hobby with my father, which was always a wonderful experience, but I wanted to take it to another level."
That new level includes winning the awards for the Best Shiraz and Best Wine overall at the prestigious 2006 Geelong Wine Show.
“Wine show scores are very good as benchmarks, they give you an idea of how you are progressing as a wine-maker,” Matthew said.
“I had won bronze and silver medals before, and had been pretty pleased with that.
“I had entered two shiraz wines in the Geelong Wine Show and I saw that one of those had won my first gold medal and was very excited with that, so excited in fact I didn’t bother to check how the other wine had gone.
“I couldn’t believe it when it was announced as the Best Shiraz and then Best Wine of the show.”
That other wine was Bellbrae Estate’s 2005 Longboard Shiraz, a wine needless to say, that is now running into short supply.
The name Longboard resonates with the area around the winery.
As well being on the Great Ocean Road, Bellbrae Estate’s neat rows of vines on a gentle curve of a hill are close to Bells Beach, the spiritual home of surfing in Australia.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, young men bashed their way with their long boards through the bush hereabouts to surf Rincorn, Winki Pop and the other legendary waves of the aptly named Surf Coast.
Their
legend is part of the décor of Bellbrae Estate cellar door and
café.
Chatting away with him quietly in that café, you learn there is another, deeper reason for Matthew’s pride at tasting success as a winemaker.
It is the maintaining of a family tradition that stretches back to Italy, from where his father Valentino emigrated in 1952.
It was on a return visit to Italy in the early 1990’s with his father that he really discovered what wine making is all about.
His voice goes softer, more ardent when he talks about his epiphany.
“During the first meal after we arrived, my uncle Alberto pulled out a bottle of wine and said to my father, “remember this wine?” Matthew explained. “They had made it together when my father had been on a previous visit.
“I realised then that it’s not just about putting the fruit into the bottle, but it is about capturing the time, the season and the place.
“This included that special time when the two brothers had been together again several vintages earlier.
“Good wine-making is about putting time and place in a bottle.”
That is something he also had re-enforced by Duncan McGillivery, whom Matthew first came across while studying at Dookie Agricultural College.
“Duncan was one of the guest lecturers,” Matthew said.
“He was late, but as he came in he apologised, and then said the delay would be worthwhile because he had managed to get hold of this special wine, a De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Semillon. One of the great wines of the world.
“He spoke with such passion about the wine and I got this fantastic glimpse about what a really great wine and great wine-making is all about.”
There is much about the Deakin Cool Climate Wine course that appeals to Matthew, not the least the requirement for a student to spend time overseas.
Inevitably, he went to Italy, helped by a small scholarship, where he worked for little more than free board and the thrill of being involved in the industry.
“That was a great experience to see how other wine-makers work in other countries,” he said. “It makes you realise how small our wine industry is here in Australia and realise that there are many differing approaches to winemaking.
“The Deakin cool climate course, especially with the compulsory overseas industry experience, expands all that.
“No one should ever under-estimate the impact this course is having on the local and Australian wine industry.
“The graduates are being picked up by the best wineries and they are beginning to making a difference to the wine industry in Australia.
“Not only are the graduates themselves getting jobs because of the quality of their work, but as they make wineries more successful, they are creating jobs, too.”
Creating even more windows of opportunity, you might say!
