Oz Identifies ‘Wizards of Oz’

In his Australian Wine Companion (Time Warner, UK, 2004), the well-known UK wine writer, Oz Clarke, identifies what he calls nine ‘Wizards of Oz’ among Australian winemakers. Along with such wine luminaries as Len Evans, James Halliday, Murray Tyrell, Mick Morris, Philip Shaw, Bailey Carrodus, Brian Croser and Peter Lehmann, Clarke names Jeffrey Grosset as one of his ‘wizards’. Grosset’s particular wizardry, Clarke says, was to establish himself as ‘the man who put the steel back into riesling. At a time when riesling was unfashionable, Grosset created a style of austere mineral purity and stark citrus scent in the Clare Valley that proved irresistible to critics and drinkers alike.’