Anderson & Marsh ‘Dark Horse Winery of the Year’ 2024 Halliday Wine Companion

What a hoot! And in a dizzying night of wine industry glamour, Anderson & Marsh takes out the 2024 Halliday Dark Horse Winery of the Year awards. This award is given to the best rated winery that has received a 5-star rating for the first time this year. With an average wine rating of 95 points, Anderson & Marsh was the clear winner of the category, a brilliant accolade for the Alpine Valleys.

For those of you new to Anderson & Marsh wines, it is a side project for me personally, a collaboration with my winemaker bestie, Jo Marsh (aka Billy Button wines). From the moment Jo set foot in the Alpine Valleys a decade ago, off the back of an eight-year stint with Seppelts, she barrelled into my life, full of ideas, energy, practical skills and big company expertise. Jo kept a pet pig as well as her dogs, was brilliant, loyal and messy, and I loved her. We drank Champagne together, helped each other out, shared equipment, cooked delicious food and had a lot of fun.

In early 2014 we resolved to co-create a serious sparkling wine – one that was complex from bottle fermentation, creamy from extended lees aging, bone dry and nerved with racy acid line. It had to be made in the traditional bottle fermented method with 5+ years of lees contact and it had to be made from Chardonnay grown in Porepunkah, at the cool southern end of the Alpine Valleys. And of course, Jo being Jo, it had to be sealed under a stainless crown seal rather than cork, in order to preserve purity and freshness.

Weeks later we went forth with snips in hand to harvest the grapes from the Dalbosco and Mayford vineyards and the first Anderson & Marsh ‘Catani’ Blanc de Blancs was born. ‘Catani’ being the pristine lake, filled by snow melt, at the top of Mount Buffalo. In the long five and a half year wait for its bottle maturation, a parcel of local Albariño became available. This aromatic and textural Iberian variety is a natural fit viticulturally to the Alpine Valleys as is its red cousin Tempranillo with which we both had proven track records.  It was too good an opportunity to pass up but wasn’t a neat fit into our individual wine brands, and so ‘Parell” was born – a Galician term for pair –  and both Tempranillo and Albariño were added to the Anderson & Marsh range. Both are sourced from the outstanding Greenacres vineyard in Merriang South.

Anderson & Marsh plays to the viticultural strengths of the Alpine Valleys and we are absolutely thrilled to see this recognition come its way. Jo and I feel so lucky to live where we do, and to have such passionate and fastidious grape growers in our friendly winegrowing community. All three wines are made in very limited volumes and we encourage you to fill your glass with a drop of the Alpine Valleys and toast our win.

With thanks for your support,

Warm regards,

Eleana

Winemaker/ Director
Mayford Wines
ALPINE VALLEYS