Curly Flat

Acidity at the Lancefield bench

Matt Harrop tastes for acidity as winemaker at Curly Flat in Lancefield, where the estate fruit comes from a Macedon Ranges vineyard set at 550 meters. Matt Harrop came to the station with formal training at Roseworthy College and Adelaide University, then narrowed his standing around cool-climate Pinot Noir. His appointment as chief winemaker at Curly Flat began in 2017, giving him the hands-on responsibility for a small, privately owned estate whose first vines were planted in 1992.

The line here is not a decorative one. Curly Flat works from its own vineyard, not from a blended patchwork of purchased fruit, and the winemaker's task is to keep the estate legible in the glass. Harrop's language for the job is custodial: the vineyard should leave its footprint, rather than carry a winemaking thumbprint. That suits Lancefield. The site asks for patience in the vineyard and restraint in the cellar, especially with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, where too much handling can blur the cool-climate shape that brought the fruit in.

Fourteen and a half hectares of estate fruit

The vineyard covers 14.5 hectares and is planted chiefly to Pinot Noir, with smaller holdings of Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. The varieties are not incidental to the place. Macedon Ranges fruit carries high natural acidity, and at Curly Flat that acidity gives the wines their frame: red fruit, line, structure, and the ability to show vintage without being forced into sameness.

Aspect and clone matter across the estate, giving Harrop and the cellar team separate pieces to read before a final blend takes shape. The production scale stays small, at approximately 7,000 dozen bottles annually, and that figure keeps the work close to the bench. Curly Flat also makes Sparkling and Rosé, but its center of gravity remains Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the two varieties most closely tied to the site's cool air, long season, and quiet insistence on detail.

A cellar door facing the vines

The tasting room keeps the attention on the vineyard. There is comfortable seating, a quiet rural setting, and a direct view back to the rows that supply the cellar. The room does not need theater; the wines carry enough weather, altitude, and vintage to hold the table without it.

That restraint is part of the house character. Curly Flat began with vineyard decisions before it became a visitor experience, and the cellar door still feels arranged around that order of importance. Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Sparkling, and Rosé arrive as estate readings rather than hospitality props. Outside, the Lancefield countryside stays open and low, with the vines close enough to keep the conversation practical.

The vintage as the record

Harrop also became chief winemaker at Fowles Wine in 2024, but Curly Flat remains the Lancefield bench most closely tied to his Pinot Noir work. The clearest way to read the next step is through the next estate bottling, where the season writes itself into Curly Flat Pinot Noir 2024.