On a sunny hill in Musk, a red Fiat idles beside the bucolic home of a larrikin raconteur and legendary winemaker, Graeme Leith—the founder of Passing Clouds winery. “I’m fascinated, every time, to see what this vintage will bring out.” Graeme’s backdrop is a painterly scene of rolling hills and vines.

“Every batch is fascinating. Every year is fascinating. The most surprising was picked in 1997. As I approach the end of my life, it’s interesting to think about how many things come back; a particular vintage or the songs that girls used to sing when they were skipping.”

“See that painting up there, that’s our old house in Daylesford. The painting is by William Tibbits who is a goldfields painter, and I think it’s possibly his first painting.” After completing his apprenticeship, the day he turned twenty, Graham decided he wanted to travel. “I went roo shooting for about six months because I wanted to make some money and go to England.” In London, he worked in construction. In Berkshire, Graham worked as a technician for the Atomic Weapons Establishment. “I wasn’t really qualified for the job but I bulldusted my way through it,” he smiles.

“I decided I wanted to learn Italian and went to Perugia. One night a week, we used to go to a little trattoria and they offered wine by the caraf that was poured directly from a barrel. One night we drank the wine and thought “Oh this is different, this is no good! Where’s our wine?! They said it was finished, this was a barrel from the vineyard next door. How can it be so different? That little area of Perugio produced excellent wine. This interested me, how can the same lot produce such different wine.”

When Graeme returned to Australia, he bought land in Kingower with his partner Sue. “The vineyard is near Melville caves which is a big granite extrusion like Hanging Rock. It’s a birthing place that the Aboriginals would use because there were big holes with baths. If rain came in from the north, we would see the clouds coming and they would split toward Bridgewater. I said to Sue, ‘we ought to call this place Passing Clouds.”

“It was dry and hungry country. I wanted to see what would come from my careful husbandry of the vines. I was such a purist in those days, I didn’t want to use herbicide and I chipped all those rows with a spade...all 14 kms, then it rained so I had to do it all again.”

Graeme passes a photograph from his burly days in Kingower; he’s bearded and in a navy blue-beater preparing a traditional hangi for some New Zealanders who were picking for him. “We lived a basic life while we planted the vines; Shiraz and Cabernet. In fact it did quite well because everyone wanted big wines. I made the blend, which has become Graeme’s Blend.” Graeme’s Blend is a deep purple hue in the wine glass, and a liquorice infused spice that distills the dark fruit aromas. “There’s more to it than the academic and technical side but it’s not magical. It’s head, hand and heart. That’s what we were taught as apprentices, it’s true...that’s all you need. I won a gold medal with the first wine I showed in 1982.”

But Passing Clouds has always been a family affair. “My wife would visit with Cameron and my younger son Jesse. Cameron would run straight to the winery when he was about seven. And Jesse would go straight to the tasting room. Cameron would be in the winery saying, ‘What can I do, Dad? What can I do?” The memory engulfs Graeme in nostalgia. “Cameron became interested in learning and the process, before he well and truly got the winemaking bug.” At the age of 23, Cameron was crowned head winemaker at Passing Clouds and, with every new vintage, his award-winning wines continue to blossom with colourful complexity.

While drinking a bottle of Passing Clouds The Angel, concocted from the finest Cabernet Sauvignon barrels each year, the experience evokes a numinous quality textured with leathery notes that are riddled in a bouquet of red, black and blue fruits. The philosopher Roger Scruton writes, “Wine is not necessary for holiness, however, holiness is a wonderful addition to wine. The greatest wines grow in sacred places.” After the tragic passing of Graeme’s daughter Ondine, this ethereal wine is a celebration of her angelic constellation. A wine that transcends flavour with feeling.

I asked Graeme if the winemaking process helped heal his unimaginable wounds. “No, it just made it harder. And it’s still hard. There are more things that remind me of her, whether it's a word that comes out or kids playing,” his voice trembles with sorrow. “And I knew then that I had broad shoulders, I was young and I could handle it. And it always worried me, whether I could handle it when I was at the age I am now. And I think of her every day.”

Passing Clouds is so much more than a local winery, their story compounds the turbulence of nature, of cultivating vines or living with tragedy. The shimmering elegance of their wines, be it the Pinot and Chardonnay, are a testament to the undying light of the family’s kindred spirit—business left in the hands of soil.

Story By Mahmood Fazal

Photos by Chris Turner

Passing Clouds Winery

passingclouds.com.au

30 Roddas Ln, Musk

5348 5550