ORGANIC winemaker Mark Davidson, of Tamburlaine Organic Wines, discussed modern organic farming at a tasting of his Orange wines yesterday.
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Mr Davidson met with community members at Ferment, in Hill Street, Orange for the free Meet Your Maker session as part of Orange Wine Week.
At the tasting Tamburlaine had reserve wines on offer including a sauvignon blanc that won gold at the NSW Wine Awards, an award-winning riesling and a malbec wine, made from a French grape that has become popular in Argentina and grows well in Orange.
“We’ve got 90 hectares here [ in Orange] and we also buy fruit from the only other certified organic farm in the Orange region run by Justin Jarrett on Cargo Road,” Mr Davidson said.
Although he has a background in chemical farming, Mr Davidson learnt organic farming through trial and error with award-winning results.
“There’s a lot of question marks about the health and safety aspect of chemical growing and there is also a question mark about the new chemicals,” Mr Davidson said.
“Some come on to the market and get deregistered later, they are either too toxic or ineffective. Organic farming is an absolute no-brainer in Orange, it is such a relatively benign climate.”
Along with making organic wines, Tamburlaine also released a sulphur-free shiraz and a sulphur-free chardonnay in 2013 and 2014 for people concerned about sulphur content in wine.
“That’s a new category, no added sulfur, we had tremendous success, we sold them out,” Mr Davidson said.
The Tamburlaine Organic Wines tasting was the second Meet Your Makers session and followed a tasting with Gerald Naef, of Patina Wines, on Monday.
Ferment will be holding Meet Your Makers sessions from 11 vineyards from 4pm to 7pm each day until November 1.
Upcoming sessions will include Murray Smith, of Canobolas Smith, Phil Kearney, of Ross Hill Wines, Duncan Cook, of Cooks Lot Wines, Tim Davis, of Carillion Estate Wines, Michael Walker, of Faisan Wines, Debbie Lauritz and Matt Atallah, of Cumulus Wines, Drew Tuckwell, of Printhie Wines, Charlie Svenson, of De Salis Wines, James Bell, of Dindima Wines, Dave Zinga, of Zinga Family Wines, and Chris Derrez, of Madrez Wine Services. For more information visit www.orangewinecentre.com.au
tanya.marschke@fairfaxmedia.com.au