![Jonathon Mattick from Canobolas Wines pouring a glass of white wine for a blind tasting at the 2023 Orange Wine Show Judging at the Orange Function Centre on Monday, September 25. Picture by Jude Keogh Jonathon Mattick from Canobolas Wines pouring a glass of white wine for a blind tasting at the 2023 Orange Wine Show Judging at the Orange Function Centre on Monday, September 25. Picture by Jude Keogh](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/GHcbaSNijNeVS4SULWDX8n/9e3562c3-8326-4022-9137-64857fde4224.jpg/r0_422_8256_5082_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A love of Orange chardonnays has led an experienced wine producer to pack up his family and move from Victoria to the Central West.
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Jonathon Mattick purchased the former Canobolas Smith Winery from Murray Smith in January last year when he moved to Orange with his wife Limei and three-year-old son Magnus.
Mr Mattick re-branded the winery as Canobolas Wines and on Monday and Tuesday, September 25 and 26 he was involved in the Orange Wine Show where he was overseeing one of the judging panels and also entered some of his own wines in the show.
"We're both originally from Sydney so we were looking for an opportunity closer to there in a premium wine region and Orange fit the bill and we found the property and it was a pretty easy move," Mr Mattick said.
"It's the thirst oldest vineyard in Orange, it's the second lot of planting, Bloodwood was the first and Cargo Road and then Canobolas Smith, it was in 1986.
"Murray historically was responsible for probably the best chardonnays to come out of Orange and won lots of awards and won lots of awards at this show and lots of other shows and then he stopped making wine in 2015 and was just selling grapes to other producers like Philip Shaw and Will Rickard," Mr Mattick said.
Mr Mattick has since resumed wine making at Canobolas Wines.
"We've got two vintages, our first vintage is entered in the show and then the second is still in barrel," Mr Mattick said.
Those wines entered in the show include 2022 chardonnay, rose, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon.
He described running his own winery as "hard work" and tiring but said "it's great".
"I worked for a very big company so we were always looking at stuff from all over the country and it's nice just to focus on one site and one region and do it the way I want to as well," Mr Mattick said.
"It's hard work but really rewarding."
He described it as a unique site stating it's dry grown with no irrigation.
When asked if he was concerned about a future drought he said the vines have survived significant droughts in the past but there is water on the property if he needs it.
"They are almost 40 years old so they've been through four pretty bad droughts and they're still doing really well," Mr Mr Mattick said.
"The soil is really deep, we're on the last lava flow that come from Mount Canobolas which was about 11 million years ago and the topsoil is about two and a half to three metres deep so the roots can go down quite a long way so they've got assurance of water that way.
It's hard work but really rewarding.
- Canobolas Wines owner Jonathon Mattick
"We've got lots of water on the property, we've got a few dams and a bore so we could [irrigate] if we have to but the plan is not to at this stage."
His role for the Orange Wine Show involved overseeing one of the two two judging panels where he made sure the glasses were cleared and the next category poured after each set of wines were tasted and assessed.
"I just make sure we pour quickly and clear quickly so we can get through the wines," he said.
Mr Mattick has worked in the wine industry for 15 years.
Before coming to Orange he worked for a large wine company on the Mornington Peninsular called Handpicked Wines which has vineyards all over Australia and he was responsible for the production of the Victorian and Tasmanian wines.
"I always loved wine and was working in marketing and knew I wanted to do something with wine so started studying the degree in Wagga Wagga," he said about his involvement in the industry.
"I loved it so I moved to Wagga for two years and then did some vintages around the place in Mudgee and Tasmania and Canada and then moved to Victoria after that."
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