Amateur Grape Winemaker of the Year - John Siemers

Published: 01 December 2009

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Grog on Wheels talks with John Siemers, Amateur Grape Winemaker of the Year 2007/2008.

John Siemers never expected to become the Australian Amateur Grape Winemaker of the Year 2007/2008. "It happened by accident - I nearly died" he says "but I am Winemaker of the year." So what is the secret to Mr. Siemers' success? He recently shared his story with Grog on Wheels.

John got his start in 1999 after meeting members of an amateur winemakers club. He began with beer, but soon recognized that his "specialty" was winemaking. He began making wine in 2001 and, notwithstanding the "disgusting" first bottle of wine, John, and his wife Jill, later discovered to Johns amazement, "We're bloody good at it!" He first entered the competition in 2004.

When it comes to his winemaking, John has his own simple philosophy: minimizing the amount of chemicals used on the grapes will decrease the amount of chemicals left behind in our bodies after consuming the wine. His wine is 90% chemical free, and for this reason, no matter how much of John's wine you drink you'll never get a hangover!

So how is wine judged to determine the Amateur Grape Winemaker of the Year? There is a complex set of criteria, based on the wine's appearance, scent and taste, to determine an award-winning wine. Each winemaker must produce five wines, with at least one in each category of sparkling wine, red wine and white wine. Twelve to fifteen independent certified judges from the wine industry score the wines based on a blind test, meaning the judges don't know the origin of the wine. The scores of each of the five wines are averaged together to get the final score. Out of a total of 20 points, 18.5 or above will earn the winemaker a gold medal in that category.

John believes that wine should be completely fermented before being judged, unlike commercial wines, where a sample is taken from a barrel or vat that has not completed To John, his most important award was the Silver medal he won for his sparkling wine. Although the term "Champagne" is now reserved only for sparkling wines from the French Region of Champagne, John uses the same traditional method to develop his sparkling wines. "That was my personal greatest achievement!" states John only to be corrected by Jill: "Other than marrying me of course!"

John's label is Moon-Shine Estate Wines. And how did John come up with the name? John and Jill live at the base of Mt. Moon, and the prohibition-era meaning of "moonshine" appealed to their sense of humor. Hence, Moon-Shine Estate Wines was born.

When asked what the best part of winemaking is for John and Jill, John says "There is a certain, mmm what can I say - call me proud - I take a lot of pride in what I have done. I feel like I have really achieved something."

Jill adds "and the cellar is always full and of course, I get to drink it whenever I want. What can be better than that?"

In the future, John plans to become self-sufficient, and open a boutique wine cellar to allow tasting and sales of his own wines, including growing his own grapes. He's well on his way, with many of his varietals planted and construction of the cellar due for completion in 2010.

Jill quips, "It's quite simple really. If you grow good grapes you can make good wine, but if you grow bad grapes you get divorced!"