Tony Cobanov (left) and Rob Bowen at Windy Creek cellar door. Huon Hooke
Swan Valley Feature Week
Tony Cobanov cheerfully admits that he spent more time tinkering with cars and motors than at school and was always getting the cuts, even the day he fixed a staff member’s car that wouldn’t start.
At his winery Windy Creek Estate, he and his wife Ruth do things differently.
As we taste his wines, with seasoned adviser Rob Bowen looking on, and I suggest that if he added a dollar to the price of every wine he might be able to buy a nice holiday, wife Ruth shoots meaningful glances along the bar.
First there are the prices. A miserable AUD $15 for a chardonnay, AUD $14 for chenin blanc and verdelho or vermentino, and (gasp!) AUD $12 for a sauvignon blanc. All are made from Swan Valley grapes, from their own 55-acre vineyard and his father-in-law’s 10 acres next door. The Family Reserve Shiraz is the most expensive table wine. It’s AUD $20.
Cobanov button-holed me the previous evening after I’d given a speech in which I suggested sauvignon blanc might not be the first grape variety one would plant in the Swan. “I’ll give you a taste of mine,” he advised good naturedly, if forcefully. For Tony Cobanov is a force of nature.
As we taste his wines, with seasoned adviser Rob Bowen looking on, and I suggest that if he added
This Article was originally published on The Real Review
