Peter Logan
FOUNDER AND CHIEF WINEMAKER AT LOGAN
“It can be hard work, but it’s exhilarating when you get it right and can create joy.”
When did you realise you wanted to become a winemaker?
Growing up, all I wanted to do was play Rugby for the Wallabies and be a National Parks Ranger. I was always interested in science though and my favourite subjects through school were chemistry and biology. I really discovered my passion for wine during university and after I took a job working as a chemist for a large pharmaceutical company which just wasn’t me, so I went backpacking around Europe which is when my love affair with wine began. When I returned home I realised my science background could lend itself to winemaking and I enrolled to do a graduate diploma at Adelaide Uni and here I still am.
Please tell us about your career so far, including your education, work experience etc.
I did a post graduate diploma in winemaking through Roseworthy College. My science background set me up well for the discipline required around the technical aspects of winemaking. Following my studies, I first took a job in the Hunter Valley and at the same time started up my Logan label, initially with fruit from Orange that I would cart all the way to the winery in the Hunter. This was quite a distance so I then moved to Mudgee in the late-nineties to be closer to the grapes and I just fell in love with the town and community there. It really is a great place to live and make wine
What do you love most about being a winemaker?
I love the complexity and creativity associated with winemaking. Having to think through and design the process for growing the grapes, then producing the wine and finally the ultimate judgement of success in being able to sell the wine. It can be hard work, but it’s exhilarating when you get it right and can create joy.
What is your favourite wine, and what food do you typically pair it with?
Hmmm, this has changed over the years. I’m a bit of a Champagne Jane and I do love my chardy. However, recently I’ve really been tending to some of the medium bodied reds that we do really well in Mudgee. So, I have to say grenache at the moment. We’ve recently planted our first grenache on the estate and got to play around with the it’s inaugural crop in 2025. I’m pretty excited while it sleeps in barrel.
Is there a specific process you follow when developing a new wine?
For me it always starts with the terroir and working out what’s going to grow well. I also like to make wines that I like, so, I will generally think about what I want the final outcome to be and try to reverse engineer the winemaking process.
Is there any vintage you’re particularly proud of creating? Why?
The Logan Lab range is a quirky new addition to the Logan family of wines which I’m really proud of. I love experimenting and trying new things all the time. The Logan Lab label and ethos really comes from my science background and they’re handmade, small batch wines that we don’t make in commercial quantities and just sell through the cellar door. I like to think of them as a reward for visitors who make the effort to come and see us. They are also usually a staff favourite as they’ve often been involved in hand picking them or manually crushing them under foot.
How does the local climate/soil affect the wine you make?
I think it has a huge impact on the wines we make. I’ve always appreciated the fruit characters in Australian wines, which I don’t feel are complemented by high alcohol content blockbuster hugely oaky wines. In Orange, we’re at 1,000 metres with Volcanic soils on the slopes of Mt Canobolas and in Mudgee we’re still cool at nearly 600 metres but produce rich flavours in our gravelly red soils.
Which of your own varieties do you typically indulge in?
I spent a few vintages working in Germany and I do love German style reisling. I’m very partial to our ’22 Ridge of Tears Reisling which won Best Reisling of the New World at Meiningers Global Reisling Challenge in 2023. I’m also very fond of a glass of our current floral and citrus ’24 Weemala Reisling and if I indulge in a second it would probably be our very ptretty ’24 Logan Lab Sangiovese which we just released at Easter.
Where do you see yourself in five years?How do you think your winemaking will evolve during this time?
You’ll have to ask me in five years’ time. I really like the mentoring aspect of leading a winemaking team, so it’s more about how their winemaking will evolve these days as they represent the future. Each year we have two or three cellar hands join us for vintage and part of the deal is they must take a ton of fruit and make their own wine. I love being part of this process and I tend to find myself learning just as much as they do and I’m always looking forward to the results. The most important thing I can do is support them and I try to instil in them the mantra that it’s not about being different, it’s about being brave enough to try new things.
If there is anything else you would like to add?
I think Mudgee tends to fly beneath the radar a little, it’s a great community and its surrounding region is all about discovery. We’ve got some of the best independent winemakers in the country producing amazing wines that you won’t necessarily see in the big city retailers. We often get first time visitors who are taken aback by the regions beauty and the quality of wines on offer from gorgeous cellar doors often operated by independent owners and their families.