Michael and Jill Bynon planted their Tarago-region vineyard in 2016. Photo: Corang Estate.
If you’ve driven past the Corang Estate cellar door in Tarago a few times, peered in and driven on, it might be time to take a closer look because hiding behind the shop window is a world-class winemaker who is just waiting to share a love of wine and a few glasses with you.
Opened by Michael and Jill Bynon in 2022, the cellar door is an inconspicuous location for a man with Michael’s background that encompasses more than four decades in the wine industry and a growing brand that has found its feet in the game over the past 10 years.
Some might say Michael followed his nose into the business, with Jill sharing that many of Michael’s industry peers refer to him as ‘‘The Nose”. His highly refined sense of smell, paired with his extensive global wine knowledge and talent for assessing wines through tasting, saw Michael pass the notoriously difficult Master of Wine tasting examination from the UK-based Institute of the Masters of Wine.
While Michael didn’t go on to become a fully-fledged Master of Wine, of which there are only 27 in Australia and 517 globally, passing the exam is an achievement that Michael uses to inform the day-to-day operations of his winery.
“If you do a wine tasting in our cellar door with Michael, you get the absolute best of the best knowledge guiding you through the wine,” Jill says.
Michael Bynon has earned himself a reputation for an accurate nose for wine. Photo: Corang Estate.
For Michael though, the industry is far more than just an exam and an accolade on paper, and his love for the grapes has taken him to the Champagne region of France, where he developed a private label Champagne to be imported into Australia, and then to Rioja and Ribera Del Duero in Spain, where he collaborated with local winemakers to develop a Tempranillo for the Australian market.
Having worked with and for industry experts all around the world, when it came time to put roots in the ground and take a shot on their own vineyard, they were drawn to the Lake George district of NSW for its cool-climate reputation in the wine industry.
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That was in 2002, and the idea of planting the vineyard was only just germinating. It wasn’t until 2016 that they planted that seed and kicked off their dream in what they describe as a unique combination of mountain scenery and bushland located 700 metres above sea level on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range.
Now 10 years on, Michael and Jill say the vineyard is thriving, and it’s their unique combination of life-long skills that sees the business growing.
“Our skills really complement each other perfectly. Michael is the wine expert and my background is marketing, so we’ve each naturally fallen into our roles in the business,” says Jill.
Michael and Jill host tastings at their Tarago cellar door. Photo: Corang Estate.
With Tarago now their permanent home, the wine label hitting its strides and a solid schedule of themed wine dinners and events from the cellar door, along with a gourmet pantry onsite, Jill says Michael’s obsession with detail is what takes their wines to the next level.
“He tastes the grapes in the vineyard before picking, and every wine we bottle goes through a rigorous bench test where the wine is examined in detail and where tiny adjustments make all the difference. This expertise and tasting ability helps to create a wine that is in perfect balance and harmony.”
Corang Estate Cellar Door is located at Unit 2/1-3 Braidwood Road, Tarago and it’s open from Friday to Monday from 10 am until 4 pm.
