![]() Under Kluczko’s direction, Clover Hill Wines is achieving a more consistent house style. “The question was: did Clover Hill have the right wines to make the most of that opportunity? So, the first thing I did was taste through everything the winery had ever made and realised we could break through the clutter of all the other Tasmanian brands out there by focusing on multi-vintage wines.” “The owners of the brand knew there was a huge opportunity in the market for good sparkling wine,” says Kluczko. I caught up with Kluczko recently to taste the latest releases from Clover Hill and hear about how they represent a new direction for the brand. At the beginning of this year, he stepped into the role of chief executive at Clover Hill Wines in Tasmania, a sparkling wine brand that was founded in the mid-1980s by the visionary Goelet wine family, who also own sister company Taltarni in Victoria’s Pyrenees region (Kluczko is CEO here, too) and Clos du Val in California’s Napa Valley. Now Kluczko is back in Australia, and he has got his sparkling hat on once again. Kluczko left Southcorp not long after and went on to work as general manager at leading vineyards such as TarraWarra and Mitchelton before heading overseas and spending more than 15 years working in California, running large wineries, both corporate and family owned. ![]() Sparkling wine producer Clover Hill Wines’ vineyard in Lebrina, north-east Tasmania. And I remember the warmth of the home-made grappa we were given to taste by one old Italian grower as the last of the day’s sunlight slipped behind Mount Buffalo. Kluczko was busy imagining how that fresh acidity would turn into life and energy in the sparkling wine after its primary and secondary fermentations. I remember plucking cold pinot noir grapes straight from the vine, popping them in my mouth and squeezing out the tart juice. Kluczko was visiting the growers who provided some of his best chardonnay and pinot noir and invited me along for the ride. My tour guide was Michael Kluczko, then senior sparkling winemaker for Southcorp Wines (now known as Treasury Wine Estates). ![]() Thirty years ago, as a fresh-faced young wine hack, I clambered aboard a tiny little plane for a bouncy trip to the high-country vineyards in the foothills of the Victorian and NSW Alps.
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