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Hedonism Meets... Chris Ringland

Chris has been crafting critically acclaimed Barossa Valley wines for 30 years. Tiny releases of world-beating Shiraz made a name for Chris in the 1990s, but he has since garnered acclaim as the flying winemaker for top Spanish winery Bodegas El Nido, making not one, but two of the Jumilla's finest reds. We caught up with Chris in the midst of the Australian winter to talk about life in the vines, making wine during the pandemic and working in a pickle factory...

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us Chris. How is the 2020 panning out?

We’re approaching mid-winter here and it’s a bit unsettling for me. I’m normally in Spain at this time of year, attending to the blend planning for Bodegas El Nido and Bodegas Alto Moncayo. This is the 19th year of my Spanish winemaking collaboration. I miss the escape from what passes for winter in Southern Australia to the balmy early days of Summer in Spain; that first ice cold beer in my favourite bar at Porta de Atocha before boarding the AVE high-speed rail to Alicante.

I’m doing the 2018

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How do you make a premium wine stand out in a cluttered category?

That’s the challenge Pinnacle Wines presented to us, when asking to bring to life their Chris Ringland CR Shiraz.

Consumers may make their wine purchase based on the label, the region or the variety without really knowing on considering the winemaker behind the brand, whether he’s dead or alive. Of the few wines that are branded with a name, many have passed.

But Chris Ringland is real and he’s affectionately called ‘King of Shiraz’ by other winemakers based on being one of twenty Australian winemakers to receive a perfect 100 score by famed wine critic Robert Parker in 1995.

Chris Ringland potrait, shot by renowned photographer Keren Dobia.

With a larger than life character, we utilised this to present not just the brand but his personality and passion for craftsmanship.

Our creative approach was to create a stunning portrait to bring to life this well-established brand in a fresh way which reinvigorates a 20-year-old claim that he is after all, the King of Shiraz. We wanted to hero a characterful man t

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I’d have to agree with Nick Ryan when he described the masterclass featuring two of Australia’s most reclusive but collectable winemakers, Chris Ringland and Drew Noon, as evidence of the bespoke nature of Tasting Australia’s wine master classes.

I met up with Drew not long after this event, and I was lucky enough to join Chris at a very small private tasting he held at his home recently.

Wine of the TA Master Class for me was Chris’s Spanish Alto Moncato Granacha, as good as anything I have tried in Spain.

I have developed a keen interest in Spanish wines as my son Sam lives in Madrid.

We visit he and his wife Bea most years. Even bought a couple of bottles of the Alto Moncato to take back to Spain to share.

Chris spent many years working with Robert O’Callaghan at Rockford.

Internationally he’s very well known for one his earlier wines ‘Three Rivers’.

To quote James Halliday

“The wines made by Chris Ringland for his eponymous brand were at the very forefront of the surge of rich, old-vine Barossa shiraz d