Romance isn’t dead. Looking at the world right now, you might fear it is. Or lying dormant, at least. But you can be sure, at least once a year, when the Wantirna Estate rolls around, romance wakes up with a jolt.
If your quest for joy is showing signs of lethargy, just listen to Reg Egan. “Art is the understanding of beauty through the senses, through all the senses,” wrote Reg in his book Of Rivers, Baguettes and Billabongs. “And in order to properly understand the dream of a da Vinci or the inner life of a Bach, one must be capable of adoring the scented and fugitive soul of a passionate wine.”

Wantirna Estate knows only passionate wine. “One thing that’s always astonished me is the way people change their lives; the way people go from a highly paid and prestigious job to something that’s utterly without the rewards that the previous job had,” Reg once observed. “This ability to change our lives is admirable, but it’s also something you wonder at.”

Well, yes, I shake my head and wince at what might have been had Reg not chosen to plant a vineyard on the fringe of the Yarra Valley in 1963. Thankfully, he did, at a time when he was still working in the law, and the Yarra had not yet been roused from its own post-World War I slumber. 

He planted Grenache, Dolcetto, Mataro, Malbec, Crouchon, Pedro Ximénez and Lord knows what else. Eventually that hodgepodge got whittled down to three wines— Chardonnay for Isabella, Pinot Noir for Lily and Cabernet Merlot for Amelia. When Hannah, the fourth and final grandchild, was born, so was a Cabernet Franc/Merlot. 

These bottles, adorned with their dreamy Leunig labels, are what this vineyard gives. It’s a pure and simple story that has kept those on Wantirna Estate’s mailing list, and sensitive souls in the wine trade, riveted for years. 

“These wines are very much of the place,” says Maryann Egan matter-of-factly. So much has changed since she first toddled around these vines as a girl. “You still never feel like you’re anywhere near any of that,” she says, gesturing toward the world beyond.

This is what Wantirna Estate is. While others find it impossible understandably so—to resist the pervading cynicism and pessimism, the romanticism of Reg’s words above still rings true. When spring rolls around and you finally get your hands on the latest Isabella, Lily, Amelia or Hannah, you step back into that idyll of innocence. These beautiful wines carry that spell.

If anything can break the spell of Mother Nature, it’s Father Time. Alas, the Egans recently announced that the vineyard is for sale. What is in barrel and bottle, and possibly a 2027 harvest, is the last the family will produce. What you have stored in your cellar and sensory memory is infinitely more precious. 

And this exceptional release is an even more urgent appeal to wake up and embrace the romance while you can.