Orange winery named by Huon Hooke as one of best in Australia

Each year, independent writer Huon Hooke puts out a list which ranks wineries from far and wide.

This year, Orange's Cooks Lot winery found itself listed in the top 50 (number 43 to be exact).

Owner and winemaker of Cooks Lot, Duncan Cook, said it was an honour to be named among the best in the business.

"It feels surreal to make the list but at the same time, it is enormously satisfying to have our hard work and the quality of our wines recognised," he said.

The wines are tasted blind throughout the year and the wineries cumulative scores separate the best from the rest.

Mr Cook said that "generally a winery would need a swag of 95+ point wines (gold medal standard)" to rate as high as they have. He added that this was "easier said than done."

So what has helped Cooks Lot - which has a cellar door in town and a winery out on Lake Canobolas Road -rise to the top?

Well, it all started back in 2016 when Mr Cook set about to create "an iconic wine to take us to the next level."

"In doing so the question was what do we need to do to create a wine with such intensity, complexity and length, which will age gracefully to take on another dimension," he added.

"Selecting the best fruit was the first step, reaching into our bag of winemaking tricks was the next which is when I had an idea to barrel ferment the red wines.

"So when I told (member of the winemaking team Chris Derrez) the plan to barrel ferment the reds in large rolling 900L oak barrels, he thought I was mad. But as soon as the fruit started fermenting in the barrels you could smell the magic happening and we knew instantly we were onto a good thing."

Mr Cook said that barrel fermenting red wines was rarely done because it can be very labour intensive, cost prohibitive and "downright dirty as someone has to get under the barrel for a red shower at the end to get the must out."

"I have found that the end result is increased and more complex secondary characters whilst preserving primary fruit characters, better oak integration and softer skin/seed tannin extraction," he said.

Mr Cook hopes that the top 50 honour helps put the winery on the map.

"It was our iconic Barrique wines that put us in the top 50, but Huon also raved about our estate and handpicked wines that he said are 'consistently good and remarkable value for money'," he said.

"Cooks Lot will continue to strive to produce high quality wines ... that exemplify Orange's cool climate."

Coming in at number one overall on the list was Geelong's Wine By Far.

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