Treading Lightly with Heslop Wines

Mudgee’s wine certainly draws visitors to our vineyards, but the appeal extends beyond the wine itself. Run by passionate locals, you’ll rarely find an industrial-style cellar door in your path. Instead, you’ll experience thoughtful touches, vines with a story and sweeping views that expand far beyond what the eye can see. And if one winery has all of the above, it’s Heslop Wines. Tucked into the rolling vineyards of Mudgee, Heslop is both a winery and a family legacy rolled into one. For the family owners, Julie, Bob and son Liam and Nadia, it’s all about one guiding principle: treading lightly.

The Heslop story

The Heslop wine journey began in 1984 when Bob and Julie planted their vineyard. For years, Bob crafted wine with the fruit for other wineries while teaching science at Mudgee High School. Fast forward to 2011, and the family launched Heslop Wines with a single wine: Touriga Nacional. Little did they know that this one wine – with no labels or name – would go on to win a gold medal and three trophies, including Champion Wine of the Show at the 2013 Mudgee Wine Show. “That wine didn’t even have a label,” says Bob. “But Liam and Julie convinced me to enter it anyway. With results like that, we thought we’d better make it again next year!”

The 2014 Touriga Nacional went on to win Most Outstanding Red Wine in 2016 and ten years later, the same original vintage took home the Best Museum Red Trophy in 2021 – a real testament to Heslop and their craft.

In 2017, the next generation joined the fold. Liam Heslop brought his winemaking expertise and his label, Heslop’s Mr. Rascal, into the family business, adding new energy and creativity.

What ‘Treading Lightly’ looks like

For over 30 years, the Heslop family has worked in harmony with their land, creating wines that speak to both the soil and the season using a ‘treading lightly’ philosophy. “This ethos of sustainability and minimal intervention runs through everything we do,” says Liam. “It’s our way of ensuring we make the best wine with the best fruit, year after year.”

In the vineyard, the family’s approach is all about regenerative farming. By drastically reducing herbicide use and encouraging native grasses and wildflowers to thrive, they’ve created a habitat that invites native lizards and insects to call the property home, producing good quality fruits with less environmental impact. “We’re happy to share the vineyard with them,” Bob laughs. Back at the winery, the Heslop family adopted minimal intervention techniques including gentle crushing, basket pressing and hand plunging. “Our goal is always to showcase the fruit’s character,” Liam explains. “No two vintages are ever the same. That’s part of the magic for us.”

Even the Heslop cellar door is an extension of their sustainable ethos. Constructed from straw bale, the building naturally maintains an ideal year-round temperature for wine while also running on solar power. “We’ve also switched to a new screw cap that makes it easy for consumers to recycle the aluminium sleeve,” says Liam. “At the end of the day, we’re always looking for ways to reduce our impact.”

A homegrown experience

Heslop’s tasting room is as welcoming as Julie herself, who you’ll often find pouring your wines. Currently run out of the family’s 1910 cottage, you can find a cosy seat indoors or in the cottage’s whimsical garden. It’s a humble setup, but one that resonated with visitors, earning Heslop Wines the Cellar Door of the Year two years in a row, in 2023 and 2024.

Plans for a straw-bale cellar door are slowly taking shape, but the Heslop’s are in no rush. As Julie puts it, “We’d rather take our time and get it right, the same way we approach our wines.” It’s this unhurried, thoughtful approach that keeps Heslop Wines feeling less like a business and more like an invitation; to slow down, connect, and taste the fruits of a family’s labour.