Vines, wines, non-local wine making

[Wine Tourist]

just curious whether people seriously consider cellar doors that contract out the wine making.
Personally, I like to go to such places to get a sense of what a single vineyard wine from an area has to offer.

By far my favourite, in an area that produces fruit but has few wine makers, is Blesings Garden, in southern flinders. Whites are made at waite, reds in clare.

Quite a surprise find.

[Waiters Friend]

I don't have a problem with contract winemaking. Especially for smaller producers, it allows them to show an expression of their vineyard, with winemaking inputs where desired by the winemaker. For example, there's a very good contract winemaker in the Perth Hills who is making at least half of the region's output (by my reckoning) and the variety is not only a good thing, but keeps the husband and wife team (both winemakers) interested.

Frequently these decisions are commercial; i.e. hand over your fruit and get a percentage of it back as bottled wine.