Meet the winemaker: North Wines’ Etienne Mangier from Victoria’s Macedon Ranges
Led by popular and charismatic French vigneron-winemaker Etienne Mangier, North are known for their premium natural wines from the heart of Victorian Macedon Ranges, including a Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Crémant and Crémant Rosé that are 100% grape juice fermented and are chemical free from vineyard to bottle.
WAYFARER’s Editor-In-Chief James Wilkinson caught-up with Etienne to find out about his background, winemaking passion, producing brilliant small-batch wines and much more.
I arrived in Australia 11 years ago after graduating in France and a world tour of winemaking harvest (South Africa, Canada, Oregon and South Korea).
I was working as an assistant winemaker at Hanging Rock Winery and after a couple of years, pushed by my wife and mates (Josh Cooper, Owen Latta, Chris Dilworth), I got the envy of making my own wine label.
At the beginning I didn’t want to buy fruits but preferred managing and sourcing grapes from my own vineyard. And one day, by pure luck, or destiny while waiting for my wife at the Macedon pub (she was teaching Salsa over there), I met this guy who planted a vineyard 20 years ago in Mt Macedon but ran out of time and energy to look after it.
Few beers later we were friends, and he gave me the opportunity to look after his vineyard in order to get the grapes in exchange for some wines. North Wine was born in a pub, in true Aussie style.
We have a small block of 1 hectare on the top of Mt Macedon, around 800 metres above sea level, and it is planted with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah.
The Jura region is an amazing land with amazing people of great characters. People are really close to nature and work in tight communities. Farmers, vignerons and cheese makers work hand to hand. They make wines to go with the cheeses and they make cheeses to go with the wines, aka Comté, the greatest cheese in the world!
I am in love with vin Jaune produced by Philippe Vandelle at L’Etoile, it’s a stunning beverage, and of course I’m a big big fan of Pupillin Trousseau from Philippe Bornard and Pierre Overnoy, masterpieces.
Cerdon, a small region in the neighbourhood, produced some underrated sparkling wines which play a strong part in my approach of winemaking.
Macedon Crémant, tribute to my love of bubbles. I was baptised with Crémnant du Jura and Cerdon Petillant Naturel. For me sparkling wine has to be fresh, alive, vibrant. With bubbles, life is more fun. But I don’t want to make French style-sparkling. Champagne is Champagne.
I try to make some Aussie style sparkling wine with some inspirations of my birth country. I called my sparkling wine méthode Champenoz, a traditionnel méthode with a twist.
All my sparkling has zero dosage (I don’t add any sugars and sulphur) in order to showcase the minerality of the Macedon’s terroir.
I do like my Crémant in two ways: early release when the wine is fresh, zesty, young and smashable, but I also do like when the wine spends some time on lees, more complex, intriguing, but still plenty of minerality.
Pinot Noir is the king of the grapes, highly demanding both in the vineyard and in the winery, no mistake allowed. But the rewards are greater. I picked my Pinot noir in an early stage when the sugars aren’t too high yet in order to preserve the acidity.
About 30% of the grapes are kept in whole bunches and the rest is gently de-stemmed. The wine is barrel fermented in order to give some soft tannins without too much oak flavours. After three weeks on skins, the wine is pressed and aged in french barrels for one year.
North Pinot Noir has an intense grape perfume with a touch of oak spices, gentle tannin, natural acidity, finishing with a nice dryness.
Syrah is a rare grapes variety here in Macedon because of the cool climate. Cool climate Syrah are more spicy, with white peppers characters. I used the same winemaking technique as the Pinot Noir. The North Syrah got some elan of Jurrasic nose with blackberries, olive brine and pine needles.
All the wines under North label don’t have any addition of acid or sulphur, and are not filtered in order to preserve the purity of the wine.
The Macedon region is ideal for wine growing due to the cool climate and the great soil diversity. Macedon is a region where the winemakers are laid back but fiercely proud of. The region has been preserved against mass tourism, and has a cool underground winemaking vibe, a little bit “punk-esque”.
There is a concentration of great vignerons winemakers who pushed the boundaries, like Alain and Nellie from Cobaw Ridge, Josh Cooper, Chris and Loique Dilworth, Oren Latta and more.
My approach on the vineyard is pretty simple but labor intensive. I spend lots of time monitoring the vineyard. The wine is made in the vineyard and all this attention early on save me a lot of stress later on in the winery.
I don’t use irrigation at all in order to let the vines root system explore the full potential of the soil. I mow the grass and brush cutting under the vines in order to keep the weeds under control, I refuse to use any weed killer, poison for the soil. And I only spray a Bordeaux mixture (copper and sulphur) when need it to control any mildew.
Made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, expect a swirl of honeysuckle and brioche. It is delicately off-dry with seams of fine, bracing bubbles.
This Pinot Noir is bristling with wild mountain wine vibes, all blackberries and under-bush, boasting an eerie whiff of Jurassic Trousseau.