Our Wines
People
Meet Team Colmar – the dedicated group of people that have made Colmar Estate happen
Bill and Jane Shrapnel
Co-Founders
Wine lovers and passionate owners of Colmar Estate. It was 30 years in the planning!
Will Rikard-Bell
Winemaker
A passionate and inspiring winemaker committed to producing small batches of hand-crafted, ultra-premium wines from the pristine fruit plucked from our cool, high altitude vineyard.
Ian ‘Pearcy’ Pearce
Viticulturist
Our viticulturalist. What Ian doesn’t know about growing premium, cool climate grapes isn’t worth knowing. An advocate of ‘all great wines start in the vineyard’.
Tanzy Barnes
Cellar door manager
SuperTanzy! Knowledgeable about the wines, passionate about our mission and a whole lot of fun to boot.
Sarah Shrapnel
Marketing Manager
Our daughter, graphic designer and food/travel blogger extraordinaire. Sarah designed our labels and the website. She also assists with communications and all the technical stuff.
The Orange Wine Region
The Orange Wine Region is known for its high altitude vineyards. The higher you go the cooler it gets, allowing a wide range of grape varieties to be grown successfully.
Most wine regions are known for one or two varieties; Orange is known for its incredible diversity. But there is one constant – the elegant, cool climate style of the wines.
1991
1991 - The first vines are planted
A mix of red and white varieties is chosen. Planting is completed in 2000 with the riesling block near the cellar door.
2013
2013 - We purchase the vineyard
Plans are made to build a house and move from Sydney to Orange.
2014
2014 - Our first vintage
A tough one, with two major rain events, yet two of our wines win trophies at the NSW Wine Awards. We realise we are onto something special.
2015
2015 - Getting the varieties right
Under-performing red varieties – cabernet sauvignon and merlot – are grafted to white varieties and pinot noir more suited to the cool site.
2016
2016 - Some big wins!
Colmar Estate blitzes the Orange Wine Show, winning five trophies including Best White Wine and Best Wine of Show.
2020
2020 - 27 trophies in five years
Colmar Estate becomes the Orange Region’s most awarded vineyard, winning 27 trophies at Australian wine shows in our first five vintages.
Present
Present - Daring to dream
We now know we can make very good wines. Our challenge for the future is to make great wines that will be savoured and discussed for many years to come.
News
A wine guru once said that the difference between a very good red wine and a great wine was in the quality of the tannins. Whoa, quality of tannins? What was she on about? While red wines contain acids givin...
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There was a fascinating discussion at the Riesling Masterclass held in association with the 2023 Orange Wine Show. It revolved around how narrowly conceived quality riesling has been in the Australian wine s...
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In Jancis Robinson’s epic book Wine Grapes she describes wines made from pinot gris in Alsace, France as having a ‘heady perfume’ and being ‘deep-coloured’, ‘fairly rich’ and ‘luscious’. Have you ever tasted...
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While it's beautiful all year around, there's something special about visiting Orange in winter! Indulge in some world-class food, visit a cosy cellar door and enjoy a tasting by the fire, and treat yourself...
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A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has provided some interesting insights into the effects of alcohol on health. With so much scientific research going on these days it ...
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We are absolutely delighted with quality of the fruit we picked in 2023 and you can expect some outstanding wines to be produced. But we weren’t always confident of this result. Thanks to La Nina, we experie...
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