A love of coffee led Pat Underwood to wine. In 2011 while working behind a bar in Castlemaine, a colleague and friend Jarad Curwood (Chapter Wine) nurtured the coffee, beer and then wine passion in Pat. In 2012 Jarad allowed Pat to pick some grapes from the vineyard he farmed, and Pat made his first wine, a Shiraz, in his dad’s backyard. It was given the name Little Reddie, owing to the miniature barrel he used to ferment in and as an ode to the fish they were catching in the local waters. Since then, Pat has gained experience working and travelling across Australia and abroad including spending plenty of time in Chianti, the Mosel, Burgundy and the Northern Rhone in 2013 following up with three harvests 2016 – 2018 with Olek Bondonio in Barbaresco where he gained his deep love for Nebbiolo. Little Reddie Wine started properly in 2015, simultaneously with a collaborative project with Jarad & Tim Sproal (Minim) called Boomtown based in Castlemaine. Jarad & Pat recently decided to focus purely on their own wine labels and Tim now runs Boomtown solo.

This 2022 ‘Bootleg Red’ made from certified organic, Grenache (60%) and Mourvèdre (40%). The fruit was sourced from two parcels in the Nagambie Lakes region in Central Victoria, where the soils are a combination of clay, sand, silt and gravel with topsoils rich in iron oxide. The Grenache was hand-picked in late March and fully destemmed, then fermented wild in cement at warm temperatures with regular pump-overs for two weeks. It was aged in old hogsheads. The Mourvèdre was hand-picked in early April and whole-bunch pressed to stainless steel for a cool ferment before resting on gross lees for a few months. The two wines were blended in early summer, then bottled unfined and unfiltered in late December. This is a whole lot of wine for the price tag. Incredible stuff from Pat.