Fruitful experiments always in the mix at Topper's Mountain

"Gewurztraminer has so much going for it ... good flavour, it's very aromatic and handles the spice in Asian food better than just about any other wine," he says.

"Every Asian restaurant in the nation should have a few of these on the wine list, but it's just not the case. I can't work it out."

The sad thing for Kirkby is that his winery's 'gewurz' is widely accepted as one of Australia's finest.

Topper's Mountain is hardly located in mainstream wine country - it's at Tingha, population 900 - not far from Inverell on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range.

"We get more through traffic than you'd think," he says. "Farmers from western NSW, Moree or Bourke or whatever, will come through Inverell and drop in here on their way to the coast for holiday, to Yamba, or Coffs or to Byron."

As Topper's is an elevated vineyard - one of the highest in altitude in Australia - and with gewurz being a tough slog, there is an ongoing experiment to nail down their best varieties.

"We first planted in 2000, and still experiment a lot," Kirkby admits.

"We do about 1500 cases, and have five blocks plus the Hill of Dreams which sits right at the top. Tempranillo and gewurz have their own block, there's a couple of blocks that have two or three varieties, and then there's a separate vineyard where we do all our experimenting."

The reason for that is that Topper's growing conditions can be challenging, with a wet growing season that means thin skinned grapes can get waterlogged and split, and long cold nights.

That experimental vineyard is affectionately called the Fruit Salad, and has 15 rows of multiple varieties planted together.

"Some struggle - semillon couldn't handle it, nor could malbec, arneis or zinfandel - but others do well. In some respects we don't pick the varieties, they pick us."

With a push for Mediterranean varieties, Topper's has a list of "16 or 19 wines, I can never remember which", that is not your everyday reading.

Visit the cellar door and prepare to taste verdejo, for example, a white variety from the Spain Portuguese border region, north-west of Madrid. Or maybe manseng or tannat, or the intriguing Hill of Dreams blends.

"We're pushing hard into viognier too," Kirkby adds. "A couple of years back we found six cases of 2010 viognier in the back of the cool room that we'd forgotten about. Geez, it was good, so we're keen to see what that can do."

So, time to get out the magic ball ... what wine will be the flagship New England wine when all the experimentation is over?

"Right now, there's four or five in the running.

"Gewurz, of course, and manseng is looking very good. Our Hill of Dreams blends we like a lot, and then the viognier is exciting too. One of those."

But at Topper's Mountain, who knows? The experiment continues.

The 2022 vintage was challenging in New England with record rainfall, their second consecutive wet vintage. You wouldn't know it because this is full of flavour ... big and full bodied, it's a real extrovert. The bouquet is really lifted with musk, honeysuckle and florals. A textural and creamy wine, this has sweet apricot and quince, more florals, herbs and a pinch of spice.

This has an intensely perfumed nose of musk sticks and rose petals. It has a textural, velvety feel in the mouth with quite wide-ranging flavours. The sharpness of lime and grapefruit manages to shake hands with the fruit sweetness of mandarin and mango. It's all rather exotic. It finishes with a gentle lift of spice - but all the way those aromatics are front and centre.

Sapling Yard The Extrovert Mourvedre Shiraz Grenache, 2022

$30

A bit unusual - an MSG - sounds like something you'd get in a Chinese takeaway. But this wine from the Canberra region with the long name seems to hit all the right spots. It's a blend of 40 per cent mourvedre, 35 per cent shiraz and 25 per cent grenache. It's an easy drinker and has dark cherry leading the way, with plums, violets and woody spice in support.