Former cricket captain Ricky Ponting joins South Australian winemaker Ben Riggs to create Ponting Wines
Australian cricket champ Ricky Ponting is taking a punt in a different game. He’s scored a South Australian winemaker to use our local grapes for his first range of wines.
Food & Wine
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Former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting is no stranger to challenges. He faced them every time he stepped up to bat during an international career spanning 35 tests (18 of which he captained), eight centuries and 2,476 test runs. His latest challenge involves wine.
Ponting and his wife Rianna launched Ponting Wines this week with a range of premium drops. The pair enlisted South Australian winemaker Ben Riggs with the task of creating wines that reflect Ponting’s career and the regions from which the fruit was plucked.
The collection includes the Ponting “First Session” 2020 Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc.
“When I think back to my cricket career, the two things I miss the most about playing are the first session of a test match,” Ponting said. “And sitting around with my teammates at the end of a Test Match and saying ‘cheers’ with a beer, then having a glass of wine in the change rooms at the end of five long, hard days of work.”
That’s why he called the 2018 Langhorne Creek Cabernet Sauvignon “Close of Play”. Meanwhile, “The Mowbray Boy” 2019 Tasmanian Pinot Noir and “Pioneer” 2019 Tasmanian Chardonnay are a nod to his family heritage and childhood in Tasmania.
Ponting’s personal favourite is “The Pinnacle” 2017 McLaren Vale Shiraz. “It’s called The Pinnacle Shiraz because as a young boy growing up in the northern suburbs of Tasmania I dreamt of one day being good enough to represent Australia and play an Ashes series,” he said. “I was lucky enough to do it over a long period of time. I often refer to the Ashes as the pinnacle of Test Match cricket.”
Winemaker Ben Riggs relished the opportunity to showcase great fruit from premium regions. Like Langhorne Creek cabernet sauvignon. “Langhorne Creek nails cabernet,” he said. “I don’t think it has anywhere near enough kudos given to it. It’s a great region. It’s a workhorse region that makes great wine.”
He is also particularly fond of McLaren Vale shiraz. “For the last 15 or so years of my winemaking career, people have been predicting the demise of shiraz, yet it’s probably growing faster than any other category in the country. It’s what we do really well in Australia. McLaren Vale is arguably the best place to grow and make shiraz.”
Ponting is thrilled with the result. “What we’ve landed on is something we are extremely proud of,” Ponting said. “A lot of hard work went into our first crack at it.”
It’s no flash in the pan project.
“This is just the start,” Ponting said. “We see this as being a business that could go on through the generations of the Ponting family. It’s never been about us sticking our name on a label, putting it on a bottle, then walking away from it. I have a five-and-a-half-year-old son and I’d love to see him sitting here doing a similar thing in 20 or 30 years time.”
The wines range from $138 to $199 per six-pack and are available online now at pontingwines.com.au
