Meet an Australian wine label with a Japanese accent

There is a small wine producer in Victoria that our correspondent Rick Allen reckons is worth keeping an eye on. 

It’s called Shimora - a blend of surnames and, chances are, you haven’t heard of it, he writes.

It’s a boutique wine label still in its infancy, but one to watch.

Based high up at 760 metres in the Macedon Ranges – “it’s one of Macedon’s highest vineyards” - Shimora is the brainchild of two highly driven people, husband and wife team Phil Moraghan (above) and Dr Rika Shimo.

If the Moraghan name is familiar, yes, it’s the same Phil Moraghan who was co-founder and winemaker at Curly Flat, whose classy Macedon wines in the early 2000s gained immediate attention. 

Japanese-born Rika came to wine later but is now a qualified winemaker and viticulturist. 

She’s very much an over-achiever … passing her wine studies with distinctions, also a former linguistics academic, art lover and classical pianist.

Their goal: to own their own vineyard and wine brand, and make the best cool-climate chardonnay and pinot noir they possibly can.

It should be noted that in 2026 Macedon was officially measured as Australia’s coldest wine region - and Shimora is in the coldest part of it. 

‘Cool climate’ barely does it justice.

Right now they are two vintages in, both very small at just a couple of hundred cases, but things are bubbling along nicely.

“We looked at more than 100 sites over several years before we landed on this one,” Moraghan said. “It’s a beauty.” 

The vineyard at Little Hampton, seven kilometres from Trentham, had to pass a lot of tests, none more so than being frost free.

“Frost free was crucial, but topography and soil quality were also key issues,” he said.

“The soil is excellent and had a lot of organic matter, but we still spent a lot of time improving it even further before we planted.”

Today there are 11 acres under vine, mostly pinot noir, but also chardonnay.

“We’ll stick with those. The only possible addition could be a small planting of riesling. We both love the variety, Rika especially.”

Moraghan believes in recent years climate change has made many cool climate pinots bigger and darker.

“I don’t want that," he says. "I’m after classic iron fist in a velvet glove. More delicate, light red pinots you can almost see through, but with loads of complexity.

“And those leaner, flinty chardonnays with white peach and citrus.”

If Curly Flat is any example, he’ll get it all right.

There is a second label called Rika & Me ($30) that uses Yarra Valley fruit, designed to offer bang for your buck. And they most certainly do.

And interestingly, they have also visited Japan and made koshu wine from the Yamanashi Prefecture on Rika’s home island of Honshu, which are available through their new cellar door, which is open by appointment.

“Koshu is interesting, long living, citrusy; they remind me of Hunter semillons requiring time to develop their full potential,” Moraghan says. 

I've asked to try the wines so will update this with my thoughts shortly. See https://www.shimorawines.com.au/

# Rick Allen is the Hunter-based wine writer for the Newcastle Herald.