About the producer

Joshua Cooper is the son of Alan and Nelly Cooper of Cobaw Ridge, and it was on that Macedon Ranges vineyard that he first learned the craft. After studying oenology at the University of Adelaide, he spent the following years working vintages further afield, including stints at Chalmers, M. Chapoutier's Heathcote project, Hewitson in the Barossa, and Domaine de la Vougeraie and Domaine Jean-Jacques Confuron in Burgundy, before returning to Macedon and starting his own label in 2012. His approach is single-vineyard: fruit sourced from a small number of exceptional, established sites across Macedon and central Victoria, farmed by growers who share his commitment to organics and sustainability. Cooper works with minimal intervention across his Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon, and was named Halliday Wine Companion's Best New Winery for 2024.

In this release

Stuart Anderson planted the original vines at Maiden Gully in 1969, and the cabernet and shiraz he coaxed from this Bendigo site through the 1970s and 80s built Balgownie's reputation as one of Victoria's great vineyards. Anderson sold the property decades ago, but the site has continued to produce fruit of real distinction, including the small parcel of old-vine cabernet sauvignon Joshua Cooper has sourced each year for his 1970 Block bottling. Following the recent sale of the Bendigo site to property developers, this 2025 release will almost certainly be the last wine made from these original plantings, a fitting final chapter for one of the sites that shaped Victorian winemaking.

"It's with tremendous sadness that this will almost certainly be our final vintage of wine made from Balgownie, a site rich with significance to the industry as a whole, and to us on a personal level. We trust this final release will be a fitting celebration of this special vineyard and everything it has represented over the last six decades."

— Joshua Cooper