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***** (Red Star Rating) Outstanding Winery, James Halliday 2012 Australian Wine Companion

“One of the icons of Macedon. The Chardonnay is top-shelf, the Pinot Noir as remarkable (albeit in a very different idiom) as Bass Phillip, Giaconda or any of the other tiny-production, icon wines.The addition of Heathcote-sourced Shiraz under the Pyrette label confirms Bindi as one of the greatest small producers in Australia.”  James Halliday, 2012 Australian Wine Companion

“Winemaker Michael Dhillon is obsessed with capturing the essence of his quartz riddled site in every bottle he produces, and manages his vines using a combination of biodynamic and biological techniques. Pinot Noir gets most attention – and it deserves the accolades – but many suspect history will show Bindi to be an even better Chardonnay vineyard: the Quartz Chardonnay has an underlying minerality rarely seen outside Chablis’ grand cru sites..” Max Allen, New World Icons of Today and Tomorrow, Decanter Magazine

The combination of a remarkable vineyard site and a talented and driven winemaker has conspired to make Bindi one of Australia’s finest small producers of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Shiraz.

The factors behind Bindi’s success read like a wine lover’s fairytale. A talented wine grower - Michael Dhillon – with a perfectionist, terroir driven approach. A warm, sun trapping vineyard in a marginal climate. Rocky, mineral rich soils and low yields. Hard work (by hand) in the vineyard and increasingly natural viticultural treatments. By “terroir driven” we simply mean “vineyard driven” i.e., every decision taken by Dhillon is intended to increase the vineyard expression and overall quality of the resulting wines. Of course we cannot seek to fully explain Bindi’s success without paying homage to Bill Dhillon (Michael’s father) who had the remarkable foresight to plant the vineyard over 20 years ago and to bring in the legendary Stuart Anderson (now retired) to assist with the project and to mentor Michael. Stuart’s enormous experience in France and Australia was critical in the development of the Bindi ‘philosophy’. So was Michael’s experiences making wine in France and Italy. Regardless, the evolution at Bindi has been a constant since the first vine was put in the ground and continues to this day.

At 500m above sea level on the north-facing slopes of Mt Gisborne, the Bindi vineyard offers the classic combination, in the European sense, of a cool to cold, continental climate countered by sun-drenched slopes and free draining, mineral rich soils – in this case the earth is riddled with quartz. Today, this vineyard is planted with four hectares of Pinot and two hectares of Chardonnay. The poor, rocky soil and the marginal climate can test the nerves of even the most experienced winemaker. Take any shortcuts in a region like this and it will certainly show up in the glass. The order of the day at Bindi is extremely vigilant canopy management, thoughtful viticultural practises that maximise the life of the soil, very low yields and minimal interference in the winemaking process. Of course, the real evidence of the genius of Bindi’s vineyard, and the quality of the winemaking, is in the tasting of a Bindi wine. It’s the reds that tend to get the most hype but the whites are at least as brilliant and the first-class sparkling wines never fail to thrill.

Bindi’s tiny production of hand crafted wines and Michael Dhillon's perfectionist approach to both vineyard management and winemaking epitomise the ideals we search for in producers across the globe. It has been a story 20 years in the making and it’s one that is still far from over.