We are Down Under this week; in the Yarra Valley, to be exact, enjoying a ‘Dutty Wine’ with Jamaican Ovarn Brown! Now before you start bombarding the Observer switchboard, Brown is a winemaker in the Yarra Valley region, which is located just east of Melbourne, in Victoria, Southern Australia. This geographical indication (GI) is 3,130 km² and has a total of 2,837 hectares of vineyards. The main grape varieties grown in the region are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Ovarn shares that he’s from a small but vibrant community in St Elizabeth — Treasure Beach. He studied agriculture in Jamaica at Ebony Park, HEART Academy in Clarendon and worked as a landscaper at Jakes Hotel. Jakes is where he met Beth, his now wife, a nurse from Australia who was at the time volunteering at the Mandeville Hospital.

After three years of dating he migrated to Australia in 2016. Two years later, he started working at the Payten and Jones Winery (@payten_and_jones) located in Healesville, a town in the Yarra Valley known as a regional food and wine hub surrounded by stunning scenery. Brown’s work at the winery consists of working as assistant winemaker and cellar door.

Note to reader on cellar door sales — in the last century customers started buying directly from these underground rooms, knocking on the door of the cellar instead of purchasing at the bottle shop. Over time, this ‘cellar door’ evolved to become fitted areas used for tasting and sales separating from the winery to become a different section, and is now a key part of many wineries.

Brown admits that he knew nothing about wine, but has never had a closed mind to attaining knowledge. “I am always eager to learn new things. I like to challenge myself,” he shares. What led him here? “I favour red wine, but wanted to extend my wine knowledge, so I made a Chardonnay that can be enjoyed on a hot day in Australia or Jamaica.” Mission Accomplished! Brown is the only Jamaican in this region to be conducting wine tasting or to be involved in winemaking.

Indeed, the head wine maker, Behn Payten, afforded him the opportunity to work alongside him to create and label his first wine release — everything about the wine should be about Brown. It’s no idle boast! Brown’s desire is for his wine to celebrate Jamaica’s culture, dance and music.”

While the wine was in the works, for the label Ovarn linked up with Robin Clare Art which he found on Instagram, reached out and shared his vision. “I have always admired Robin Clare’s artwork. She is a Jamaican artist living in Sydney, Australia. Her work features elements of Jamaican culture, and in particular dancehall. Australia isn’t like the UK or US where there’s a large Jamaican population. We are few in numbers. So, it was great to link up with Robin and collaborate on this project.”

Fun fact about ‘Dutty Wine’: When you scan the QR code located on the back label of the wine bottle it takes you to details about Ovarn’s background, gives you a tutorial on how to do the dutty wine dance demonstrated by the “Attitude Girls” credited with creating the dance and who hail from Montego Bay, along with the music video featuring Tony Matterhorn music. The back label also reads:

‘ A dance in Jamaica and a Chardonnay from the Yara Valley. This wine is fermented on skins then matured in an egg. Ovarn’s first go at making wine under the tutelage of Payton.

In Jamaica they have a saying: “The new broom sweeps well but the old broom knows all the corners.”

To his credit Brown has created three vintages under the stewardship of the head winemaker — “2019 was really part of the learning process and doing the basics,” he adds and is thankful to his parents who’ve always been so supportive of him. “I am always excited to bring some bottles of Dutty Wine over to Jamaica for them to enjoy.”

Tasting note from the winery:

Our wines are a little different — they may be murky in the glass and can sometimes throw a bit of sediment. They always look better with a bit of air, served neat in a glass (although straws also work), at the right temperature, with fresh food and great company. The wines are not ‘perfect’ by industry standards, but they have the perfect personality for the situations they’re made for. Drinking these wines is like experiencing a band live, as opposed to listening to a recorded track. There’s minimal intervention and doing nothing to a wine is the hardest part of making it. Always interesting, with a little soul left in.

On drink trends for 2022: “Always Red Stripe, Jamaican Stormy with Appleton rum, and dry white wines this summer. But I’ve also noticed that it’s becoming more and more important for people to know where the product is coming from and what/who is behind it.”

Find and follow me @raihndrops on Instagram. Let’s lift your spirits!