The Story Wines

This boutique winery based in the southern suburbs of Melbourne in a converted warehouse was established in 2004 by Rory Lane, and this producer certainly has a story to tell. In 2003 he was enjoying a few drinks with friends and the topic of what to name the winery came up. Rory's family had no history or background in wine; he did not own any vineyards, have any children, or even pets that he could name his wines after, and the friend concluded that “you just have the stories that go along with how you make it”. This really resonated with Rory because “every wine is a story”. The Story wines have now grown into a highly successful brand and they have been recognised as a 5 Star producer by James Halliday. The grapes are sourced from the Grampians in Western Victoria and a collection of other Victorian regions - presently from eight different sites. Rory likes to search out remote forgotten vineyards with exceptional pedigrees.
The Westgate Vineyard in the Grampians, south-east of Great Western at Armstrong has red-brown sandy clay loam with buckshot and some quartz, known as the “Concongella” soil series. The site, which was planted in 1969 and extend in 1998, is mainly planted with the rare St.Ethel clone of Shiraz, but in 2008 a small block of Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier was added.
The Hyde Park Vineyard is planted on a siltstone hill in the Grampians south-west of Great Western and north of Moyston solely with Shiraz. At the top of the hill the red ferrous soils are higher in clay and stone, whilst down the slope the earth is lighter and more sandy.
The Moyston Hill organic vineyard is located further south than most Grampian vineyards and the soils are older Cambrian era bedrock with slightly redder topsoils. This is predominantly planted with Shiraz, but with smaller plots of Mourvedre, Grenache and Barbera.
The Arawatta Vineyard in the Grampians has 2 hectares of Grenache from the South Australian Heritage program, planted in 2014.
The Rowan's Lane Vineyard is planted on the banks of the Merri River outside Warrnambool, the most easterly part of the Henty region in the south-west corner of Victoria on the border with New South Wales. It has the coolest climate of any wine region on Australia's mainland, and here Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Cabernet Sauvignon thrive on sand and shell subsoils, with black, friable topsoils from the now inactive Tower Hill volcano a few kilometres to the west.
The isolated Newton's Ridge Vineyard is 15 minutes inland from Port Campbell on the Great Ocean Road. Here Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Meunier and Shiraz are planted on brown clay loams over limestone on this exceptionally cold coastal site.
The Croucher Vineyard in the rural high altitude Whitlands region in north-east Victoria has Riesling planted in the mid-1980's on red volcanic soils at 800 metres above sea level.
The Box Grove Vineyard in the pastoral agricultural Nagambie region in Central Victoria is planted with Glera. This is a new vineyard for The Story Wines.
Rory takes a hands-off approach in the cellar with as few additions as possible. Once the grapes arrive at the winery they are moved by gravity to small open top fermenters, where they are fermented spontaneously with native yeasts. The red wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered. Small quantities of of premium wines, emphasising acidity and freshness with bright aromas and moderate alcohol levels are produced. These are interesting wines and each one has a different story to tell......