A few months ago, I sat down at a friend’s dinner table on one of those perfect days where everything has gone according to plan; the tea was still hot when I remembered I’d brewed it, there were zero emails that distracted me from whatever deadline I was working on, lunch was eaten sitting at the table instead of standing over the sink and all of the things on my to-do list actually got done (the only time in 2025 this happened). When I was handed this glass of wine approximately two minutes after walking into my friend’s house, I had to laugh.
It was like my whole day had been condensed into this bright purple liquid. In most ways, this wine is exactly what you’re expecting – smoky reduction, cracked black pepper, a swish of violet, a lick of meatiness and a base of ripe black fruit. On the other hand, it’s lighter, brighter, easier than most examples – it feels like everything happened at exactly the right time for exactly the right length of time. The ripe fruit fits the tapered acidity and polished tannins like a glove. The oak is perfectly in balance. The finish is pleasant, cheerful and fades out gracefully. It’s an everyday wine if every day went exactly how you’d planned it.
Ironically, when Bernice Ong and Julian Forwood chose the name Ministry of Clouds for their business in 2012, it was their way of acknowledging that most days do not go as planned. For every day of perfect weather, there’s a deluge. For every successful sales relationship built and export document approved, there’s a tariff levied. As the last sentence of their website ‘about’ page attests, ‘We govern what we can, the rest is chance. Perhaps that is just life …’
Despite the vicissitudes of life, the couple has built a healthy business turning out balanced, lighter styles of Australian classics – Clare Valley Riesling, Adelaide Hills Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, McLaren Vale Shiraz and Grenache – as well as leaving room to experiment and explore new varieties – Picpoul, Gamay, Mencía. While they source grapes from all over the country, they also managed to buy their own vineyard in 2016 – 11 ha (27 acres) on a south-facing slope in the Onkaparinga Gorge in McLaren Vale that they christened The Chase. (See photo at top.) The Chase’s 650-million-year-old sandstone bedrock with shallow slaty siltstone topsoil was planted in 2001. Ong and Forwood farm this site organically – though it is not certified.
Ministry of Cloud’s 2023 Shiraz is made from 60% The Chase and 40% from a sandy site planted in 1960 in McLaren Vale’s Blewitt Springs. To ensure fruit is at exactly the ripeness they’re looking for, Ong and Forwood do multiple picking passes. In 2023 – a cool, late-ripening year – they began on 17 March and finished on 24 April.
Grapes are hand-harvested and brought to the winery where they are sorted and the majority (82% in 2023) are gently destemmed to retain whole berries. The berries and remaining whole bunches are layered into open-top fermenters where ambient yeasts carry out fermentation. Fermentation temperatures are kept moderate (24–26 °C) to preserve fresh floral and fragrant black-fruit notes. Twice a day, wines are pumped-over or punched-down by hand. After 4–6 weeks, the wines are pressed using a basket press and gravity-flowed into a mixture of containers – 3,500-litre foudres, demi-muids and French hogsheads – for 7 months. Only 5% new oak is used, adding structure and a very light toasty impression on the wine.
Ministry of Clouds is imported into the US by K&L Wine Merchants in California and sold direct for $19.99. It is imported into the UK by Graft Wines and is sold by North and South Wines for £169.99 for 6 bottles or by Bottle Apostle for £31.90. Wine-Searcher informs me that this wine is also available in Germany, Hong Kong, Sweden, France, Denmark and Singapore.
Despite most days not going according to plan, this wine should be part of your plan.
Image at top of The Chase. All images courtesy of Ministry of Clouds.
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