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Minimal and sulphur free wine making by Owen Latta (Latta Vino)

Winemaker Owen Latta from Latta Vino is arguably the master of minimal sulphur or sulphur free winemaking in Australia. We are lucky enough today to have Owen’s personal testimony to his unique winemaking fundamentals and ethos around the subject. There is certainly interest from our in store customers, who we have found are asking a lot of questions and curious about the answers. 

Make no mistake about it, Owen’s wines are some of the most characterful in our store that scream authenticity. His willingness to take calculated winemaking risks is unique in an industry that until quite recently has rewarded squeaky clean wines which are of-course important and valid but also potentially missing in creativity. 

We at Wine Experience believe there is room for both winemaking philosophies, and applaud the work being done by shakers and movers like Owen Latta and his peers. It makes our store more interesting and gives those who are curious to explore these cutting edge wines a totally new perspective on Australian wine and winemaking. 

Thank you Owen… enjoy the read!! 

Minimal and sulphur free wine making by Owen Latta (Latta Vino)

Minimal sulphur and sulphur free wine making is nothing really new to me, I’m pretty fortunate to be a second generation winemaker from a place in Australia without a wine region. We have no neighbouring large vineyards, wineries or wine factories that have influenced the way we do things here. When my parents planted vines back in the very early 1980s they planted for someone by chance with great knowledge of the old world. The best piece of advice to this day was given to my father Norman when he went out on his own to create Eastern Peake was, “the vineyard is truly the key to making great wine, the winemaker is just there to help the progression. Don’t interfere too much with what you have already.” 

A hands off approach has always been the philosophy in the cellar, yet still you need to have your eye on the prize. Life in the vineyard or in the cellar aren’t always smooth sailing, things do happen. With experience & time you pull off the magic, even more so when the stars align. 

Generally nothing is added to the must or juice, never any sulphur unless the season is challenging on the fruit. Norman pushed the boundaries on winemaking in the late 90’s early 00's and made some mistakes which all turned out to be the most important keystones for our/my winemaking fundamentals. Somehow I managed to scrape into university (18 years ago) where I got to study a diploma of wine science, it’s good to know that stuff but I never have found a use for it. It just leads into tinkering & polishing wines to look like something which they are not (too calculated too squeaky clean) I’d much rather take risks, make mistakes & have loads of fun doing it! That’s what the journey is all about, enjoying what you do.