About Us

Camel Lot Estate Winery is a small boutique winery on the western slopes of Mount Camel. Mount Camel is the holy grail of the Heathcote wine region, a majestic mountain fabled for its ancient soils that are renowned for viticulture. Our vines thrive on Australia's oldest soils - rich red clay loam derived from 500-million-year-old Cambrian rock.

Our vineyard was established in 2014. We decided to concentrate on planting what grows best in the local soils - Shiraz and Cabernet, as well as parcels of Merlot, Viognier and Petit Verdot; all sourced from local growers to avoid the introduction of Phylloxera. Fortunately the Heathcote wine area is Phylloxera-free and we try our hardest to keep it that way.

Although not certified organic, sustainable principles are applied to all aspects of grape-growing and winemaking. Keeping our soil healthy results in healthy vines producing quality fruit. We use ironbark posts throughout instead of treated pine and do not use pesticides or herbicides in our vineyard. This does of course result in lower yield compared with commercial "weed-free" vineyards but we think our wines speak for themselves. We source additional berries from producers with similar philosophies to our own.

Our goal is to create fine wine without harm to the environment. We are committed to sustainability and aim to lower and offset our carbon footprint where possible through our orchard and other reforestation projects. We use vineyard prunings and grape waste product from the winemaking process as mulch, which improves the soil. Our winery and home are solar-powered, with energy fed back into the grid. We catch rainwater, though the vineyard is only watered on those blazing days when the temperature hits 40 degrees for several days in a row. Once established, we believe vines produce more flavoursome berries if they are not irrigated.

We let Mother Nature do the work and encourage the terroir to shine through with quality fruit creating fine wine. Using traditional techniques with minimal human intervention, low yields of handpicked fruit are hand-plunged in small open fermenting vats, basket-pressed and matured for 24 months using French oak.

In line with our dedication to sustainability, we only use second-hand oak barrels and infuse the wine with fresh charred oak cubits while maturing in the barrel.

Camel Lot Estate wines are racked twice and neither fined nor filtered. Our experience has shown that unfined / unfiltered wines are more pleasant on the palate, with greater purity of fruit. We believe this natural sediment nourishes wine over time, which can help it age gracefully. We only bottle 500 cases each year and don't sell young, immature wine.

After spending 24 months fermenting and maturing, our Premium range of wines are bottled, sealed with quality corks and allowed to age and improve a further two years in the bottle before being released for sale.

Camel Lot Estate wines do not contain animal products.

Our wines

The star of the show here is our winery dog. Every good winery should have one.

Ours is Mutley and he dreams of starring in the next Wine Dogs of Australia book or calendar. In preparation for his Wine Dogs fame we have completed the questionnaire.

Obsession: Chasing kangaroos out of the vineyard but now that he is the ripe old age of fifteen, he often pretends not to see them and prefers to laze in the sunshine between the vines and watch us work.

Mutley the Dog

Favourite pastime: Sitting in the front seat on a car trip, tummy tickles and dreaming of white fluffy kittens.

Favourite food: Whatever the humans are having at that moment.

Pet hate: Being told human food is not for doggies.

Favourite toy: Anything that squeaks. Others might say their dogs.

Favourite instrument: Trombone.

Our Labels

Our labels have been created by the amazing First Nations artist, Maddi Moser from Taungurung mob.

Maddi loves how wine brings people together for great conversation and catch-ups, so her designs focus on meeting place symbols. Each design centres around the theme of "coming together to celebrate", which is what good wine feels like to Maddi.

"Each Camel Lot Estate label is slightly different and some represent other areas of Mount Camel that we celebrate, such as Country or the time it takes to create or build something - like family or wine," Maddi says.

Maddi has an incredible body of work and has exhibited at the Koorie Heritage Trust in Federation Square, Melbourne, with Land Currents in 2019 and Reflections in 2020.

"Land Currents represents how land connects all of us," Maddi says. "In particular I have looked at my favourite landscapes that make me feel at home. I think this is a feeling we can all share."

Maddi runs Chlo & Co Creatives, a Townsville design and photography business.

For more on the magnificent Maddi, see www.chloandcocreatives.com/maddi-moser-artwork

Corks

People often ask why we seal our bottles with cork instead of opting for the modern trend of screwtops. In part, it is to preserve and pay homage to traditional winemaking methods. Also, popping a cork retains the sense of ceremony synonymous with opening a fine bottle of wine.

We use Diam corks, a modern type of cork guaranteed to eliminate the historic problem of cork taint. They are consistent from one bottle to the next, protect flavour and aroma, and are permeable to match every wine and ageing time.

Diam is prided for being an eco-accountable cork, which matches our eco-friendly principles.

A lot of customers ask about sulphur in our wines.

We add 50ppm (parts per million) after malo-lactic fermentation has finished. This protects the wine during the next 12 months of maturation from bacteria and further "rogue" ferments and prevents the development of volatile organic compounds.

A further 10ppm is added shortly before bottling. This helps to sterilise the tiny amount of air trapped between the top of the wine and the cork. This puts our wines somewhere between "Natural" & "Biodynamic".

Sulphur

We acknowledge the Taungurung people, the Traditional Owners of this land on which we live and work. We pay our respects to their leaders and Elders past, present and emerging, for they hold forever the memories, traditions, culture and hopes of all Taungurung people.

Artwork: Maddi Moser "Mount Camel"