“The sparkling wines under this new label are distinct... 'Reminds me of Selosse, but of course is wholly its own thing' slipped out of my mouth as I was tasting it." Mike Bennie, The Wine Front As you can tell from Mike Bennie’s 'Freudian slip', Ray Nadeson and Maree Collis are crafting some of Australia’s most original and adventurous sparkling wines. It is perhaps surprising that, for a set of wines whose first commercial release came as recently as 2019, the genesis of Lethbridge’s sparkling project goes back to 2003. These curious winemakers then decided to experiment with a perpetual reserve akin to the solera system used in Champagne, most famously by Selosse and with many others following suit. From the start, Nadeson and Collis knew they wanted to craft something wholly unique. As all great wines do, it began with the right site. Jack Doeven’s Drumborg vineyard is as chilly as they get. As Ray explains: “Once you have a great, cold site that gives fruit with high acidity, you’ve got the starting materials to play the long game for sparkling.” Next came the method, which draws from their favourite Champagne growers and their own winemaking experience in the Moorabool Valley. In the cellar, barrel fermentation, extended lees aging, zero sulphur and wild yeasts (anathema to most sparkling winemakers) form the building blocks of the riveting and deeply complex wines the pair hope to achieve. And, of course, the thread that ties the wines together—and the source of much of these wines’ multilayered, savoury personalities—is Lethbridge’s cherished 20-year-old perpetual reserve. There’s a lot of froth and often little substance in the world of sparkling wine. Nadeson Collis is the real deal. “The wine needs to be complex first, so when you drink it, there’s a journey,” says Ray. These deep and daring wines push the boundaries of what we think sparkling wine in Australia should or should not be. Tasting is believing.