Josh Cooper is the son of established winemakers but he’s his own man. Recently turned 32, he has a suite of beautiful wines that are all his own doing. He is ploughing his own furrow.
Cooper was raised in Victoria’s chilly Macedon Ranges, regarded as the coldest wine region on mainland Australia, where his parents Alan and Nelly run Cobaw Ridge winery.
His focus is on single-vineyard pinot noir and chardonnay, and the wines are based on established vineyards in the Macedon Ranges and surrounding areas. For example, Cooper’s three chardonnays are from the 38-year-old Cope-Williams vineyard at Romsey, the Captains Creek vineyard at Blampied near Ballarat, and the Portree vineyard at Lancefield. Meanwhile he makes the pinot noir from Doug’s Vineyard at Romsey and Ray-Monde at South Gisborne.
He also has a Heathcote syrah, and there’s a Pyrenees cabernet sauvignon waiting in the wings from the 2020 vintage.
Cooper is a hands-off winemaker, whose wines would probably qualify as ‘natural’. The only thing he adds is sulfur dioxide. The chardonnays spend a year in oak on lees without stirring or racking, and are bottled unfined and unfiltered. Their hallmark is fruit purity, and they are delicate, racy and refreshing.
