Technically there’s no cellar door at Garagiste, so if you want to stop here for a tasting you’ll need to make an appointment. But here’s why you should.
The name, ‘Garagiste’, is a reference to a group of winemakers in the Bordeaux region of France, who, in the mid-1990s, produced Vins de garage or ‘garage wine’ instead of the highly tannic styles of wines the region was known for. It’s a term that’s come to apply to a small-scale winemaker who doesn’t adhere to tradition.
The garage that Flanders makes his wine in is a glorified one – really, it’s a huge green shed, impossibly clean and neatly stacked with winemaking equipment, not the dusty, spider-webbed shack implied by the word. He’s been making wine here since 2006, putting down his roots after stints at De Bortoli, Métier, Moorooduc Estate, and more overseas.
