Linnaea’s far-flung adventure began in 2008, when husband-and-wife duo Daniel Fischl (an Australian agricultural scientist) and Michelle Edwards (an accomplished American winemaker), crafted their first wine in the Napa Valley. Their brilliant 2009 Howell Mountain Napa Cabernet set a decidedly international tone for the label, which has since travelled to Piemonte and, more recently, to Heathcote in Victoria. Fischl and Edwards are now based relatively nearby in Melbourne.

Through their experiences Linnaea is becoming a flag-flier for sustainable vineyard practice, both across the land they manage themselves and every vineyard they work with globally. Think cover crops, soil regeneration, carbon-footprint reduction, re-establishment of vineyard perimeter habitats and building biocontrol, along with a transition to full organics, energy recapture systems, dry-farming where feasible, and even native bee research. This dynamic and complementary pair’s range of wines features wonderful purity together with frisky approachability. The wines are made with a meticulous, reductive approach, and a blend of tradition and thoughtful intuition.

2017 brought abundant sunshine and rainbows to the picturesque bio-friendly vineyard where the ‘Bardo’ Barbera comes from, high up in the Monferrato hills. This 100% Barbera was hand-picked in mid-October and after a huge, six weeks of maceration on skins, the wine was settled into a large-format, neutral oak to rest undisturbed for a further 14 months before bottling. A journey that began on a fresh and dewy October morning with intentions to preserve that moment of radiant brightness has ended in a wine which offers mountains of fruit intensity and altitude-forged tautness.