13th October, 2020
through
Rupert Millar
Taras Ochota, the winemaking, bass-playing, surfer dude of the Adelaide Hills, has died following an extended sickness.
Co-founder of Ochota Barrels vineyard along with his spouse, Amber, Taras died on Monday 12 October.
A are living cord at the Australian winemaking scene, Taras pursued his passions for browsing and track to start with, gambling bass in a punk band that flirted with status and fortune however he was once step by step pulled again into wine and minimize his enamel within the trade in South Australia and California, proceeding to play in bands and browsing between harvests.
Finishing an oenology stage at Adelaide, he and Amber additionally lived and labored for some time in Italy and Sweden prior to returning house, the place Taras labored on the Nepenthe vineyard amongst others.
Taras and Amber had hatched a plan to arrange their very own vineyard in the future whilst on browsing highway go back and forth in Mexico in 2000 and, now with an absolute thought of this type of wines he sought after (and didn’t need) to make, once they were given their probability they took it.
They farmed an eclectic combine of sorts; Grenache, Shiraz, Gewurztraminer, Gamay, Riesling, Chardonnay, Mourvedre and Pinot Noir amongst others, all farmed organically from websites round south Australia and made with minimum intervention – just like the wines Taras’ immigrant Ukrainian oldsters used to make in Clare Valley when he was once younger and the ones of alternative winemakers world wide that impressed them on their travels.
The wines gained him plaudits and admirers world wide from fellow winemakers and keen wine drinkers, as witnessed through the outpouring of disappointment and tributes following the scoop of his passing, from each those that knew him in my opinion and even simply from his wines.
His UK importer, Indigo Wines, mentioned in a observation: “Taras was once a real pressure of nature, whose power and just right humour stuffed the room and made everybody he met really feel particular. As a winemaker he created stunning, thrilling wines that challenged perceptions of Australian wine.
“However maximum of all, he was once a loving husband, father and just right buddy.”
He’s survived through Amber and their two youngsters.