Vinden Wines, formerly known as Vinden Estate, was founded in 1990 and is now under the guidance of second-generation winemaker and viticulturist Angus Vinden. All of the wines are handcrafted at the winery on Vinden Estate, with minimal intervention on-site, from hand-picked grapes.
Since taking over in 2015, Angus has maintained the original label, Vinden Wines, which possesses a traditional Hunter style as well as producing his offshoot label allowing a more experimental approach The Vinden Headcase - balancing tradition with innovation.
In 2020, Angus’ The Vinden Headcase Experimental Release saw the beginning of a life long photography project. As an avid photographer, during lockdown Angus decided to capture a self portrait to represent the 2020 vintage. Over the years, you’ll be able to line up all of the bottles and see how he ages both as a man, and evolves as a winemaker.
lignée is the collaboration between Angus Vinden and Will Gilbert, of Mudgee’s Gilbert Wines. In 2018, over a few beers, they decided to work together and each year they blend a couple of parcels from each of their respective vineyards to create a wine meant for sharing between friends - only available to buy in magnums.
The Hunter Valley is the oldest commercial Wine Region in Australia dating back to 1828.
"As the current custodians, it is our role to not only maintain, but to improve the Hunter Valley. All wines we produce are strictly sourced from Hunter Valley vineyards, I believe when you go to Burgundy, you drink Burgundy. Therefore, when you are in the Hunter Valley, you should drink from the plethora of stunning and ancient viticultural sites we possess."
Somerset & Vinden Vineyards
The two vineyard sites are the Vinden Estate vineyard and the old vine blocks at Somerset vineyard in Pokolbin, Hunter Valley, where Angus was mentored under the fifth generation grower Glen Howard.
The Vinden Estate vineyard was first planted in 1995. The soil is heavy red clay, with several varieties grown here - Shiraz, Mourvedre, Gamay and Alicante Bouschet.
Somerset vineyard was originally planted in 1891, unfortunately during WWII the vines were pulled as demand for war time food outweighed grapes. Luckily in 1965 replanting began to re-establish one of the great sites in the original Parish of Pokolbin. As a hillside site it has both fine sandy loam soils and boasts a limestone hillside with granular red volcanic clay. Shiraz, Tempranillo, Chardonnay, Semillon, Verdelho, Fiano, Gewürztraminer and Chenin Blanc are grown here.
