The winemaker and the vineyard

Camille Rousset

Hailing from the Bordeaux region of France, our Winemaker and Vineyard Manager, Camille Rousset draws on his influences from this famous area known for its iconic, full-bodied, red wines. Camille, or Jeff as he is colloquially known, is a big personality with a fine eye for detail and precision.

Making his home in Mudgee with his young family, he is passionate about making great wine that reflects the terroir and fruit of the Mudgee region and beyond.

When asked if he prefers French or Australian wine, his response is usually: "If it is good, who cares where it is from! Wine is a journey, and every bottle is a destination through space and time."

Care, attention, and patience

Hollowmere wines are the expression of our unique terroir, our viticulture and our winemaking. Expertly crafted by our Winemaker and Vineyard Manager, Camille Rousset, our wines reveal attention to detail, balance, and pureness of our Italian and French grape varieties.

Our philosophy is simple: work with Mother Nature and respect our environment, and focus on the vines to attain fruit of the highest possible quality in each growing season.

There is no shortcut to making good wine; it is a question of patience, experience, and balance.

Bracken Hollow, Mudgee

Hollowmere is a vineyard blessed with diversity in its terroir; the combination of the soil, climate, topography and techniques applied to growing our fruit.

Located in Bracken Hollow, just 15 minutes from the township of Mudgee, our vineyard consists of 15 hectares of 20 to 25 year old vines which are a combination of French and Italian grape varieties.

Read from the top down

Our vineyard sits in the old Brackenwater riverbank, along the river of the same name, which gives rise to a very rocky ridge. This stony ridge creates beautiful natural drainage and imparts minerality and great character to our wines.

Our Shiraz and best quality Sangiovese thrive here. A large part of the vineyard consists of light clay and old sediments from the ancient riverbed, providing very rich soil that is well balanced and full of nutrients. This area is ideal for our Barbera, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet.

We also have a sandier area of the vineyard which provides good drainage and allows the soil to dry out quickly. Although not as rich, this soil is perfect for the Sangiovese that we use for our Rose.

Warm and temperate, with its own microclimate

The Mudgee climate is warm and temperate. Spring and Autumn are usually stunning; warm but not too hot. Summer can be extreme and very dry with temperatures reaching the mid-40s, sometimes bringing intense summer storms. Winter mornings can be very cold with frost but usually, if the weather is clear, it warms up in the afternoon. Occasionally it snows in Bracken Hollow, but that is rare and always falls high on the hills.

The Hollowmere vineyard, which lies in a valley between the high hills and the Brackenwater River gently winding through it, influences the weather and creates its own microclimate. It is not rare to see heavy rain on the Mudgee plains passing by over the hills on the right bank of the river. There are also moments when you are working in the vineyard and there is a wall of rain 300 metres from you but thankfully, you stay dry. Of course, it can also be the other way around.

Good quality fruit makes everything easier

Viticulture is probably the most important part of the winemaking process. Good quality fruit makes everything easier and it starts in the vineyard. At Hollowmere, our winemaker, Camille, is also our Vineyard Manager.

For a long time, the Hollowmere Vineyard has been worked in a conventional way. But for the past few years, we have been putting in place a new approach, particularly with our soil management. Vineyards get most of their nutrients and energy from the soil via the root system. A well-balanced soil is the basis for good growth and development of the vine. Our approach is to feed our soil with nutrients as well as growing cover crops between the rows that will bring nitrogen and nutrients back to the plant. It also helps with natural weed management.

Recently, we have also started to train our canopy to grow straighter. A vine is like a human being; if you don't sit straight, you don't grow well. Foliage management also assists in machinery access.

Clean, precise pruning in winter is the basis of good vine development and is done by a house-trained team under the strict supervision of the Vineyard Manager.

We are constantly observing and studying how these techniques and others can benefit us, the vine, and the environment as we move into a more sustainable future.

Let the fruit express itself

Our winemaking is based on the idea of letting the fruit express itself, and this is why fruit quality is of the utmost importance to us. This allows flavour, aroma, colour, terroir, and the expression of the variety to shine through in Hollowmere wine.

Once the grapes are crushed and the juice is made into wine, the maturing process commences, which will build complexity and character, based on the varieties and expectation for each wine.

Wines that we want to retain the bright fresh fruit characteristics of are typically matured in stainless steel with a certain percentage in barrel to add some structure and complexity. Our Chardonnay and Sangiovese are examples of this.

We age our full-bodied red wines in French oak as the natural tannins of these varieties are complemented with oak ageing and will display their rich character and complexity as they mature. Examples of this style include our Barbera, Cabernet Merlot, and Cabernet Shiraz.