Mérite Wines’ recent double win at the 2025 Sommeliers Choice Awards—Cabernet Sauvignon of the Year and Wine of the Year Australia has drawn well-earned attention to both the producer and their home region of Wrattonbully. Based in Wrattonbully on South Australia’s Limestone Coast, Mérite has spent over two decades refining their approach to Bordeaux varietals, placing a particular emphasis on clonal diversity, micro-site selection, and extended ageing.

In this conversation, co-founder and director Colleen Miller shares what made this challenging vintage so distinctive, how Mérite is reframing perceptions of Australian reds abroad, and why Wrattonbully’s soils, elevation, and cooling influences offer something Cabernet lovers around the world shouldn’t overlook.

Mérite Cabernet Sauvignon has just been named Cabernet Sauvignon of the Year at the 2025 Sommeliers Choice Awards. Congratulations! What do you think it was about this particular vintage that resonated so strongly with the judges, and how does it reflect your broader philosophy around clonal experimentation and site expression?

Thank you, Malvika. We are delighted that our MERITE Cabernet Sauvignon was selected as both Wine of the Year Australia and Cabernet Sauvignon of the Year in the 2025 Sommeliers Choice awards. That particular vintage was one of drought and heatwaves, where fires made international headlines across the world, but thankfully did not affect our region, so we did not have to worry about smoke taint. While our vines were stressed as each heatwave rolled in, we worked very hard to ensure the canopy and vines were healthy to protect the grapes so they weren't affected by sunburn or shrivel. However, the result was that the vintage produced very small berries that were intensely flavoured. The judging panel of the Sommeliers Choice Awards has expert palates that picked up on the small, intensely flavoured berries in their tasting notes, describing it as "deep and focused", and they recognised our work to protect our vines with their recognition of the wine's quality under such challenging conditions. I guess this vintage tips its hat to that common expression that a vine that struggles can produce something great.

Image: Mérite Cabernet Sauvignon won both Cabernet Sauvignon of the Year and Wine of the Year Australia at the 2025 Sommeliers Choice Awards.

Mérite Wines has become known for elevating often-overlooked Bordeaux varieties like Merlot and Malbec in Australia. How do you position a nuanced, terroir-driven portfolio like yours in international markets where consumer expectations around Australian red wines can still be fairly traditional?

Call me crazy, but I think consumers in international markets are looking for exactly that from Australian wine: nuanced, terroir-driven wines that speak to a sense of place and their makers. US consumers have an expectation what they will be offered when they walk down the Australian section of the wine store or flick deep into the wine list to the Australian section, but I reckon they also KNOW there's excellent wines and exciting wines being produced in Australia but think some factor in the US wine trade holds it back from being available to them. The number of times I was asked, when we lived there, "So where can I get the good Australian wines?" or "Why doesn't the good stuff make it over here?" or "What's good from x region?". There's obviously a thirst for knowledge and a curiosity with US wine consumers towards Australian wine, who are willing to spend, but they are suspicious that what is on offer will simply be in line with their expectations. Thankfully, since then, a number of importers have sprouted to bring over fine and interesting, and exciting Australian wines from boutique wineries that are often small and family-owned, like ours, who really care about what we put into the bottle.  I think it's worthwhile for those in the US wine trade to seek them out, range more Australian wine, but also think about how you showcase Australian wine - highlight "the good stuff" as a shelf talker, and in tastings, teach about the cooler climate wine regions to bust through the "sunshine in a bottle myth", and consider how it is placed on your wine list so that it's not viewed with scepticism but made obvious its something exciting to try. Consider a prominent "Surprise Me" section and stock a Cabernet Sauvignon from Wrattonbully and watch their face when it knocks their socks off! 

 Image: A vineyard in the Wrattonbully wine region.

Wrattonbully has often flown under the radar compared to its more widely known neighbours in the Limestone Coast, but your wines speak volumes about the region’s potential. In what ways does this Cabernet Sauvignon express the unique elevation, soils, and cooling influences of your site? And how do you think it distinguishes itself from Cabernet made elsewhere in South Australia?

Wrattonbully has indeed flown under the radar in the international wine world but is widely recognised for its quality Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot within the Australian winemaking community. The Wrattonbully wine region was formed as a result of the neighbouring region's desire to tighten its boundaries; a region long known for producing some of Australia's benchmark cool-climate Cabernet Sauvignon with a track history of long-term cellarability. Despite this ruling, Australian winemakers and wineries seeking to make fine wine (especially a fine wine made from a multi-regional blend) have continued to come to Wrattonbully, purchase land to plant vineyards for premium fruit, or buy grapes from family growers like ours. The plantings in the region over the past 30 years have grown steadily as a result. Now, the most planted variety in our region is Cabernet Sauvignon, which I think is a testament to what they know our region can produce so well. It has been an interesting history to observe: when we arrived in 2000, we had noticed that many of these sites in Wrattonbully were being established for fine wine production as their goal. Sites had different aspects due to the gently rolling hills, in contrast to neighbouring Coonawarra, which is flat with most rows oriented in the same direction at that time. Also, Wrattonbully, being a younger region, had more recent clonal material and low vigour roostocks to select from. In recent years, sites in Coonawarra have been ripped out and replanted, changed their row orientation, and undergone pruning/yield/farming practices. Terra Rossa over Limestone soils, a maritime climate influenced by the Bonney Upwelling, which provides cooling night breezes in the ripening period for a wide diurnal temperature swing, and a site established for premium fruit production are the factors to look for in Limestone Coast wine regions for Cabernet Sauvignon. These factors create a perfect storm to create an elegant Cabernet Sauvignon with structure, balance, high-quality tannins, and a long savoury finish, just like your judging panel noticed in our wine. 

Image: Colleen and Mike Miller.

Conclusion:

Mérite’s approach speaks to a belief that precision viticulture and deep engagement with place can produce wines that stand apart, not because they shout, but because they endure. As more importers and consumers begin to seek nuance and identity in Australian wines, Mérite offers both in spades: structured yet supple Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot that questions old assumptions, and a clear-eyed commitment to crafting wines that reflect their origin with steady confidence. Their recognition at the Sommeliers Choice Awards might just be the beginning of a broader reappraisal of both Wrattonbully and the role of detail-driven producers in reshaping Australia’s global wine story.

In conversation with Malvika Patel, Editor and VP, Beverage Trade Network

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