Our Winemaking
Our winemaker, Angus Wardlaw, adopts a minimalistic approach to winemaking, allowing the fruit to speak for itself. Angus captures the terroir and beauty of the vineyard, expressing the quality of the grapes, in every bottle of wine. Estate grown grapes showcase the diverse climate and the rich soil of the vineyards. Every bottle of wine reflects the region and the passion of the winemaker. Each vintage tells a different story as a new harvest produces unique characteristics, variety, and interest in every bottle.
With decades of collective experience, the Millon team combines knowledge and passion, creating outstanding wine. Following environmental practices and using modern technologies, ensuring quality harvests.
"Good wines are made, great wines are grown."
Great winemaking begins with the soil, starting with the perfect plot of land. Each grape varietal carefully selected to match the vineyards unique soil and climate conditions. The hand of the winemaker, evident at every step, ensuring that the grapes develop to their full potential.
Harvesting the grapes at the right time ensures the fruit retains natural acidity and fresh varietal characters. As the grapes ripen, our winemaker decides when to pick the grapes, based on skill, awareness and taste. The optimal time for harvest varies from year to year. Tasting the fruit is the best way to test for quality and ripeness. During the ripening process, grapes become uniformly sweet and ready for harvest. Millon wines embrace new technologies whilst respecting old-world traditions, handling our fruit gently, destemming, not crushing, preserving beautiful whole berries. This technique results in wines with great purity of fruit whilst not over extracting from the skins and seeds.
The winemaker produces wines in their purest form, using traditional methods. The decision to use oak barrels depends on the wine style and desired flavour profiles. Oak barrels soften the tannins, adding complexity, depth and concentration. The barrel flavours enhance the fruit, but do not over power it. The winemaker's minimalistic approach allows the fruit to speak for itself, creating authentic wines. Millon Wines offers light, approachable signature wines, easy to drink and delicious on the palette.
Head Winemaker -
Angus Wardlaw
Meet the Winemaker
Born into a respected winemaking family, Angus developed a deep love of grapes and viticulture from an early age. Spending time in the presence of Barossa luminaries such as Peter Lehmann, Wolf Blass, Jim Irvine and John Glaetzer, picking fruit and stomping on grapes as a child. Angus created his first vintage in 2009 in the Barossa Valley. Winemaking has always been part of who he is, with Angus deciding to spend his life creating authentic wines which expressed South Australia.
As Head Winemaker of Millon Estate, Angus has developed a renewed love for the Eden Valley region and believes it's the future of the Barossa. His attitude towards winemaking is simple and based on years of experience. Angus' philosophy is to use a minimalist approach, from the vineyard all the way to the glass.
“I constantly endeavour to ensure that I capture the fruit characteristics of the vineyard, and of the variety that I’m making. I wish to encapsulate those characteristics, refine those characteristics, not overpower them with oak or other winemaking influences, but to let the fruit come forward.”
— ANGUS WARDLAW