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How this Mudgee favourite is leading the way

Family-run Lowe Wines has always been popular with food and wine lovers but this organic and biodynamic property is fast turning into an empire.

Lowe Wines, Mudgee.
Lowe Wines, Mudgee.

A sense of zeal pervades Tinja Farm, a haven for food and wine lovers in the Mudgee wine region of NSW’s central west.

It’s evident in owner David Lowe’s well-worn list of 44 permaculture goals for the beautiful organic and biodynamic property that encompasses Lowe Wines and its much-lauded restaurant The Zin House.

It’s tangible in the vineyard’s new Latin Quarter wines, identified with pretty tags looped around their bottlenecks in lieu of conventional labels. Made from seeded paper, the tags can be used to grow the medicinal herb chamomile once the Italian varietals, Lowe’s answer to climate change, have been enjoyed.

Zin House restaurant at Lowe Wines, Mudgee.
Zin House restaurant at Lowe Wines, Mudgee.

It’s also present in the weekly “Monday challenge”, when Zin House chefs meet to discuss their responses to a test posed by charming head gardener Lydia Blocksidge, who oversees Tinja’s thriving kitchen plots.

Walking beside rows of organic vegetables sprinkled with bright pops of flowering calendula, Blocksidge describes how the challenge promotes seasonality and reduces waste by encouraging the chefs to devise new ways to use every part of the produce grown at Tinja, an Indigenous word meaning “reedy waterhole”.

Zin House restaurant at Lowe Wines, Mudgee.
Zin House restaurant at Lowe Wines, Mudgee.

“Ultimately I tell the chefs what’s becoming available in the garden, so they can work out how to use it. It’s really special because often at other restaurants it’s the other way around – chefs just tell the gardeners what they want,” Blocksidge says.

While the restaurant’s name is a nod to Lowe’s flagship Zinfandel red varietal, Zin is also Dutch for appetite, desire or intent, according to director and executive chef Kim Currie, David’s wife.

Zin House restaurant at Lowe Wines.
Zin House restaurant at Lowe Wines.

It’s an apt appellation given the strong sense of purpose evident not only at the restaurant but across all Lowe Family Wine Company’s ventures. Staff numbers have surged from seven to 70 since 2019 as Lowe and Currie have merged the winery and restaurant businesses, created an events division, planted new market gardens and opened the stylish Althea by Zin bakery in Mudgee.

Keen to share their knowledge, the couple has created multiple ways for visitors to experience the charm of the farm and learn about the organic food and wine it produces.

Top among them is a languid long lunch at the wisteria-draped Zin House, surrounded by gorgeous farm flowers and the vibrant works of acclaimed local artist Luke Sciberras.

Lowe Wines, Mudgee.
Lowe Wines, Mudgee.

As I embark on a six-course experience after a garden tour, Currie proudly tells me that for the past month the menu’s produce has been supplied solely from Tinja – from the leeks, onion, garlic and spinach in the superb rotolo pasta to the pickled turnip accompanying a cheese souffle and the truffled cauliflower puree served with my Tinja lamb.

At one point during the three-hour meal, restaurant supervisor Paddy Sinclair invites me to stretch my legs and stroll in the garden. It’s a far cry from the battery-hen experience of dining within allocated timeslots in city restaurants.

“I don’t move people on – that’s one of my pet hates. It’s not a country experience,” says Currie, an advocate for regional food and dining who first won culinary acclaim when she opened The Rylstone Food Store and Bridge View Inn in neighbouring Rylstone. A taste of the farm’s food is also available at the winery’s rustic cellar door, a corrugated iron building overlooking grape vines, gardens and a picture-perfect dam.

The Zin Shed at Lowe Wines, Mudgee.
The Zin Shed at Lowe Wines, Mudgee.

Here, visitors can buy picnic baskets to enjoy on the grounds, each loaded with bakery goodies as well as Tinja jams, local cheeses and delicious meats made by Zin’s in-house butcher, Arnie Colaiacomo, whose family established Sydney’s renowned AC Butchery.

Also on offer is the “Lowe Flow”, a wine tasting that highlights gems such as the award-winning White Gold chardonnay and the Amphora shiraz, produced in a 500-litre Italian amphora that adds a whiff of bacchanalia to the natural wine’s fresh flavours.

Those keen for a deeper dive into the winery should book a spot on the 90-minute Saturday “Lowe Show” tasting. Showcasing current, unreleased and museum wines, the experience is generally led by the affable Lowe, who shares how he created the region’s only certified organic and biodynamic winery.

Zin House restaurant.
Zin House restaurant.

As he strolls among his vines, Lowe speaks with fervour about the benefits of farming without herbicides and insecticides as well as the role that biodynamics and permaculture play in boosting and maintaining soil vitality and plant health.

It’s clear Lowe has one eye fixed on the farm’s future. After studying Wine Australia’s Climate Atlas to understand the impact of climate change, he’s planted the 7ha Latin Quarter with Southern Italian varietals such as vermentino and pecorino, which are set to thrive as local weather conditions start to mirror those in Italy.

“I thought this is what I need to do – where there’s crises there’s opportunity,” Lowe says.

For visitors who want a truly immersive experience, Tinja offers accommodation for two in the delightful Shed by Zin studio. Layering rustic furnishings with Scandi-style pieces, the Shed is quirky, cute and as photogenic as the rest of Tinja.

The Zin Shed.
The Zin Shed.

At one end of the studio there’s a comfortable bed dressed in white linen while the other has a well-supplied kitchen area with a toaster oven that works a treat heating up tasty bakery pies for a late dinner.

A leather couch stretches in front of a firebox and potted monsteras create a relaxed feel. Outside, a fire pit and small table setting are positioned to take in glorious sunsets.

Beside the studio is a new venture; a saltbush planting overseen by Indigenous food specialist Nathan Lovett. As we tour the property, Lowe outlines more projects in the pipeline, including a solar farm and a koala sanctuary on part of Tinja that he’s given in perpetuity to the NSW Government’s Biodiversity Conservation Trust.

Meanwhile, Currie is working on plans to fish for carp in the Cudgegong River, which runs through Tinja, and to produce essential oils from the gardens.

“David and I are probably a little eccentric – we are always looking for the next thing,” she says with a smile.

In the know

Lowe Wines is open daily from 10am to 5pm. The Zin House opens for lunch Thursday to Monday and dinner on Friday and Saturday nights; $155 a person; wine pairings $95 a person. Shed by Zin offers stays from $350 a night, two-night minimum.

Libby Moffet was a guest of Lowe Wines.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/how-this-mudgee-favourite-is-leading-the-way/news-story/92ac271bc766a48ae09b53daa6e5c137