Clive Hartley
Boomtown Winery and Bistro is located in the Mill complex in Castlemaine. It is one of a growing number of cellar doors that brings a wine experience into town, instead of travelling out into the countryside. We have our own Dilworth and Allain in Daylesford as another example. The one in Castlemaine is a bit different as they also make the wines on site. A true cellar door, although not surrounded by vineyards. Initially the site was a cooperative winemaking venture which started in 2015. At that point they didn’t serve food, but that has all changed.
It is now the home to Minim Wines and owned by Tim Sproal. Tim isn’t a trained winemaker, the closest he came was studying geology, but he was of a passionate foodie having been brought up in a family that owned restaurants, it was natural that an interest wine developed. He gained experience with a number of winemakers including working for Adam Marks at Bress near Harcourt in 2011. Tim eventually bought out the partners in the cooperative at Boomtown in 2018 and opened the Bistro fully in 2024. He still makes wine but now has a Head Winemaker – Brock Alford to assist. The fruit comes off his two vineyards located at Metcalf and Faradale, as well as buying fruit from Chalmers in northern Heathcote.
The grapes are made into four ranges, all under cork, and using wild yeast. Boomtown is their house wines for the bistro. Next come the Minim Spring range. These are fruit forward wines, often with a twist, either some fermentation on skins for whites or made into juicy reds best served chilled. For example, their Patsy Fiano 2024 is a dry, fleshy textural wine with plenty of crunchy apple.
Next is their single vineyard wines. I tried the 2024 Colbinabbin Sangiovese sourced from Chalmers vineyard. A medium bodied wine with lashings of black fruit and hints of raisins, cinnamon and chocolate. It was dry with a nice fine-grain tannic finish. Finally, the XO range is sourced from their own vineyards. The 2023 Minim XO Riesling is their tilt on the wines of the Jura region and is complexed with orange peel, pot pourri and leesy yeast flavours. Other wines in the range include a refreshing juicy, pink Petillant Naturel made from Syrah, a Grenache Rose, as well as a Syrah and a Cabernet Sauvignon.
Together with the Market, Shedshaker brewery, Oakwood smallgoods, Sprout Bakery, Long Paddock Cheese and Cabosse & Feve chocolatier it is hard to leave The Mill complex.
Boomtown cellar door is open Thursday to Sunday from 11am to 5pm. The bistro is open Friday to Sunday for lunch as well as Friday and Saturday night.
Photos provided by Boomtown Winery.
Clive Hartley is an award-winning wine writer, educator and consultant. Check out his fortnightly radio show on Hepburn Community Radio website called “put a cork in it”. Want to learn more about wine? Try his book the Australian Wine Guide (7th ed) – available for purchase from Paradise Books in Daylesford, Stoneman’s BookRoom in Castlemaine or from his website – www.australianwineguide.com.au
