Thunder Ridge Wines

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Thunder Ridge Wines are made under contract for us by the renowned Cassegrain Wines Pty Limited of Port Macquarie. Cassegrain's Senior Winemaker, Paul Pudner in collaboration with John Cassegrain and the rest of the winemaking team have produced two vintages for us.

About Paul

Paul Pudner was born in Leeton and raised in the north west NSW towns of Bourke and Boggabri. With a great love of horses, Paul's heart was set on a career in the equine industry when he left school. While living at the NSW Equestrian Centre in the Hunter Valley, his thoughts changed to a career in winemaking.

In 1999 Paul enrolled in Wine Science at Charles Sturt University at Wagga Wagga. Prior to joining the team at Cassegrains, Paul worked for Southcorp, Tullochs and Berringer Blass. While working for Berringer Blass, Paul spent 6 months in the Napa Valley in California. He also spent time backpacking through the Bordeaux region in France.

Paul's thoughts
My favourite time in the business is vintage. I love seeing what I can do with all the grapes. Winemaking is an expression of my artistic side. It's quite extraordinary seeing fruit turn into wine.

Cassegrains is a fantastic location and a brilliant setting to work in everyday. We are making some sensational wine here and are always looking for new and inventive ways to progress in the industry. I am very lucky to be a young winemaker and be in the position I am in with a fantastic mentor in John Cassegrain.

About The Wine
The 2007 Chardonnay Process
Thunder Ridge's Chardonnay grapes were whole bunch pressed and cold settled for 24 hours. The juice was then racked to tank to begin fermentation. At approximately 6 baume, some of the fermenting juice was transferred to 3 year old French barriques where fermentation concluded. The tank portion was fined and stabilised whilst the barrels were stirred on lees for 6 months before being re-blended with the tank portion. The wine was then prepared for bottling.

The 2007 Merlot Process
The merlot was crushed and de-stemmed to an open ferment vat, then plunged four times a day to keep the cap wet during fermentation. Once the wine was completely fermented, it was drained and pressed off skins. 48 hours later it was racked off gross lees and allowed to complete malolactic fermentation in 3 year old American and French barriques. It was then racked again and sulphured before returning to mature in oak prior to being bottled.