Meet The Makers! Tessa Brown and Jeremy Schmölzer from Vignerons Schmölzer & Brown

Who are they?

Both fully fledged vignerons running an incredibly demanding yet successful wine business in Vignerons Schmölzer and Brown. They are a brilliant collaborative team, with a vineyard dubbed ‘Thorley’ in Beechworth – Victoria’s North East.

Tessa is an incredible viticulturalist and winemaker with over 20 years experience.

Jeremy is an independent ‘high end’ architect, not only running his architecture company (website), but also makes the wine, particularly decisions regarding their famous Riesling range.

She loves ferments, chainsaws, forklifts and feminism.

He has a keen eye for design – from meticulous vineyard rows, their upcoming build of a winery and home at Thorley, to the vision behind the style of the wines they produce.

Jeremy, how do you think the precision and detailed nature of being an architect translates to the messy world of winemaking?

A. I would say, correctively, winemaking is not a “messy world” – there are many parallels to architecture in terms of precision. The way you work as an architect, you constantly see details in what you do, and you can improve. Wine is somewhat similar; you finely adjust all the things you do from viticulture to in the winery. Take building a house for example. The project is a complete representation of your decisions, and in wine, the vintage and resulting wine is a complete representation of the season, and how you interpret it. Sure, a different outcome… but a very similar approach… “you get one stab at it”

How a wine ages is also similar to a house. There are loads of parallels.

Who is your grape variety crush and/or celebrity crush?

Tessa: I find Nebbiolo absolutely fascinating. High natural acidity and lovely sweet ripe fruit, but – a very idiosyncratic variety to work with and figuring it out is both a crush and crushing. Ryan Reynolds. He is such a funny himbo, and genuinely delightful with his wife.

Jeremy: I would have to think of who is a crush. I can’t think about celebrities. I go blank. Is Riesling a crush? It’s more of a girlfriend.  A crush is more fleeting, whereas I engage with Riesling. I’m obsessed. We’re engaged.

Favourite people to follow on Instagram?

Tessa: @freud.intensifies @bravenewwine @laviolettawines

Jeremy:@iamthirtyaf ...because I relate to it.

What do you two like to drink?

Jeremy: Oh, Tess will complain that I drink too much Riesling and Pinot Noir. I particularly like white Pinots.

Tessa: Yeah, he only wants to drink Riesling and Pinot. I tend to lean more to Nebbiolo and Chardonnay, and of course bubbles.

Did you feel the earthquake this week?

Jeremy: Yes! I enjoyed it thoroughly. I thought “ooo, this is a good one” and was comfortable enough in the house. I knew it wouldn’t bring this house down. Nothing broke in the winery, fortunately. Intact bottles is a relief.

Tessa: I was in my ute, and genuinely thought perhaps teenagers were rocking my ute from side to side.

To follow along with Tess and Jer's wine adventures, you can follow them on Instagram HERE.

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