Richard and Florence Statham moved to what is now “Rosnay” in 1995, after spending almost a year travelling around south-east Australia in search for the ideal site for a new vineyard. As former woolgrowers, they had nearly two decades of farming experience to tell them the importance of good advice and correct site selection before taking on such a huge new project. Their farm in northern NSW had been drought stricken for more than half the time, the rest of which stricken by poor wool prices. Wth the help of Peter Hedberg of Orange Agricultural college, they found the picturesque, gently north sloping and well drained soils of Rosnay, just 8km south-west of Canowindra on the Belubula River, in the Cowra Wine Region, south of Orange.
Their oldest son, Sam, joined them in 1997, after studying a geography degree in France, working on organic farms in New Zealand and for the Department of Land and Water Conservation in Cowra. Sam, Richard and Florence embarked on a journey of discovery which led them to decide to undertake the whole project under organic principles. The first vines, planted as commercial rootlings in September 1997, were organic and biodynamic from Day One. They were the original Chardonnay and Shiraz blocks, totalling 7.5hectares, painstaking planted with compost, lime, rock dust, and straw mulch. In 1998 they planted a further 8 hectares of Merlot, Semillon and Cabernet, using cuttings from local vineyards and from elite South Australian stocks. In 2000 they planted the final 4 hectares of Shiraz using rootlings grown on Rosnay. For the next three years they continued to plant more vineyards organically under contract to other growers who now form part of Rivers Road Organic Farms.
The first fruit was hand harvested in Autumn 1999, from the original Chardonnay vineyard. For this and the following four years the Rosnay fruit was sold to organic and biodynamic wineries including the famous Botobolar and Cassegrain wineries. Of particular note was the “R&B 2000 Shiraz”, a delicious and harmonious blend of fruit from Rosnay and Botobolar, made by the new winemaker Kevin Karstrom. The first Rosnay label wine was produced in 2001 and made by John Cassegrain. From 2002 the wines were also made at the new winery at Windowrie Estate, just 4km from Rosnay, and today all of the Rosnay wines are made at this state-of-the-art, certified organic facility.
In 2002 the first Rosnay wines were launched at the new cellar door by the Independent Federal Member, the late Peter Andren. The first wines, the 2001 Shiraz, 2001 Triple Blend, and the 2002 Chardonnay, were produced in very small volume, totalling about 700 dozen. The Shiraz and Triple Blend are still drinking well six years later!
In 2004 the first straight Semillon was produced, and in 2005 the first Cabernet Sauvignon and Rose were produced, bringing the range to a total of six wines.
In 2006 a total of 7000 dozen was produced on the back of excellent rains in October 2005, but in 2007 this dropped back to less than 1000 cases due to the severe drought and the selling of fruit to other seriously affected wineries such as Bobobolar, Australia’s largest dryland vineyard. Fortunately, not having a winery allows this sort of flexibility to adapt to the market and seasonal conditions of each vintage. The 2008 vintage falls into a similar category to the 2006, with a good quality and moderate sized crop being harvested on the back of excellent rains in November 2007.
Two exciting new wines were released in 2008.One is the new “Rosnay Vintage Chardonnay” sparkling wine. It is the first to be made in Cowra in many years, and is proving to be a delicious sparkling, picked very early to give ahigh natural acidity and low alcohol. The other is the Semillon Sauvignon Blanc, made mostly from Rosay Semillon (85%) with some cool climate Sauvignon Blanc from the Tamburlaine organic wineyard in Orange (15%) producing a delicious wine which is immediately more popular than the straight Semillon.
Future plans include port (fortified Shiraz).
