Vale Vaughn Dell
Sinapius
Pipers Brook, TAS
Vaughn Dell and Linda Morice purchased the tiny 2 hectare Golders Vineyard in Pipers Brook in 2005 and re-named it, creating Sinapius. At the ripe old age of 24, Vaughn and Linda knew that their home state of Tasmania would provide Australia’s finest cool climate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the future. Originally planted over 20 years ago to the two Burgundian mainstays, they have added two new sections with updated clones of both varieties, plus a little Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Gamay to play around with. Both sections are ultra-close planted at 7700 and 10250 vines/ha respectively.
The aim here is low bunch weights and yields per vine like Burgundy, rather than tonnes per acre. Only perfectly ripe fruit is harvested with great care taken in the vineyard right down to removing the ‘ears’ from Pinot Noir bunches to ensure even ripeness. Vaughn was a vigneron in the true sense doing all the work from pruning through to bottling, with the attention to detail of a fanatic. Production does not go much beyond 1000 dozen. Pipers Brook has a long reputation of outstanding Pinot Noir and the wines that Vaughn sensitively crafted are as akin to fine Burgundy as they are Tasmanian Pinot Noir. The Chardonnay is intensely aromatic and the Riesling has a level of complexity in its youth rarely seen in Australia.
Sinapius is beginning the ascent to stardom, and is still largely unknown but with wines like these, it won’t be long before they are recognised as one of Australia’s best artisan wine producers. Jancis Robinson described the wines of Sinapius on her visit to Tasmania as having “intensity that transcends the norm” (highly complimentary by Jancis’ standards!).
Sadly, Vaughn passed away at the end of the 2020 vintage. He is survived by Linda and their daughters Esmé and Clementine. Vaughn achieved an incredible amount in his short life and the Sinapius vineyard and these wines will be his legacy.
Not available in VIC or TAS.