Ben Chipman of Tomfoolery Wines. Vinous Solutions
Several strands of the wine industry intersected when I caught up with Tomfoolery’s Ben Chipman in Sydney recently.
Ben is owner and winemaker of this Barossa Valley winery, which produces outstanding Barossa and Eden Valley wines. Travelling with him was Andrew Wigan, a fellow Barossa resident and veteran winemaker, who helps Ben make his Tomfoolery white wines (and also helps Rob Gibson make his Gibson Burke’s Hill Eden Valley Riesling). Wigan was of course chief winemaker at Peter Lehmann Wines for many years before his ‘retirement’.
Chipman and Wigan were in Sydney to launch the new release of Tomfoolery wines which includes two ‘special’ new wines: The Innovator Barossa Semillon and an Eden Valley Montepulciano—named High Cotton.
Another tangent: his son Sam Wigan is now chief winemaker at Yalumba.
Chipman and Wigan were in Sydney to launch the new release of Tomfoolery wines which includes two ‘special’ new wines: The Innovator Barossa Semillon and an Eden Valley Montepulciano—named High Cotton. As Ben says, this wine has a longer history than most Australian montepulcianos as the cuttings were smuggled into Australia from Abruzzo by an Italian in 2001. No names, no pack drill. The source vineyard sits at a lofty 410 metres and is grown in what Ben calls “very marginal conditions, making it a remarkable example (of the variety) which is incredibly well suited to the Eden Valley”.
The wine is bright and intense with glass-staining colour and a powerful fruit-driven palate. The
This Article was originally published on The Real Review
