The circle of life is a fascinating thing, and this thoroughly holistic vigneron will bring renewed vigour to your love of wine. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that we welcome the wines of Circulus to the CellarHand portfolio.
John White’s wines make sense. This windswept maritime vineyard is in their DNA. They crest with cool, pretty tones, pitch with wild, savoury undertow and pulse with insistence, unfurling just-so on a finish that is more aptly an entreaty to go back to the start. These are wines that John and his wife, Kim, love to drink. “It’s a trite line,” he says, “but she’s my muse in this.”
We can’t argue; the internal logic is impeccable, and so is the delivery.
Such is the sense of cohesion here that to understand the name is to understand Circulus. This is a full-circle project for a man who grew up among the vineyards of the Adelaide Hills. His father was a member of the Beefsteak and Burgundy Club, and as a kid, he’d run around at cellar doors while his parents tasted wine in the Barossa, Clare and McLaren Vale. He and his brother collected wine labels to swap with mates like footy cards.
It led John to enrol at Roseworthy to study oenology, but he swerved off that path towards a career that looked more sustainable. During a rewarding 30-year stint in finance, his passion simmered beneath the surface as a deepening appreciation of what it took, both practically and philosophically, to grow great wines.
Then came the fateful cancer diagnosis that took him back to the beginning. Living back on Kim’s Surf Coast home turf, a reawakening of that initial dream led them to purchase Coatsworth Farm on the Bellarine Peninsula in 2021.
The farm is encircled by water. Three kilometres north and east is Port Phillip Bay, 10 kilometres west is Corio Bay, and five kilometres from here, you have the Southern Ocean crashing into Victoria’s Pinot Coast. Intense, energetic wines encapsulate this environment of rain-shadowed vines in low-nutrient soils, freshened and flustered by constant offshore breezes.
The third ring of the story is the virtuous circle of regenerative farming. The estate is on its way to becoming Carbon Neutral Certified by Climate Active. John and Kim focus their initiatives on energy efficiency, limiting water use, biodiversity expansion, weed and pest management and closing the loop on materials and resources that flow in and out of the business. Custom organic compost, no-till, multi-species cover crops, integrated livestock grazing and biodiversity buffers are all in place to improve the site’s health while adding dimensionality and vitality to the glass.
These wines already enjoy an excellent reputation among those in the know, and John is unequivocally the kind of wine-lover that CellarHand and our extended family in the trade love to have a thoughtful drink with. We very much look forward to spreading the love and expanding Circulus’s circle of friends ever outward.
The People
For John White, Circulus represents a return to a lifelong calling. Raised amongst the vineyards of the Barossa, Clare Valley, McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills, wine was woven into the fabric of his childhood. Yet despite beginning his studies in winemaking, he spent the next 30 years building a successful career far from the cellar. It took a profound health scare in 2020 to prompt a simple question: what dream had been left unfinished? The answer led John and his wife, Kim, to Portarlington, where they became custodians of a mature vineyard overlooking Port Phillip Bay. What followed was not simply the creation of a winery, but the renewal of a landscape and the pursuit of a long-held passion.
Today, Circulus remains proudly family-owned and family-run, with John overseeing both vineyard and winery. Together, John and Kim are guided by a philosophy of leaving the land better than they found it, crafting wines that speak honestly of place, season and the remarkable journey that brought them here.
The Vineyard
The Circulus vineyards lie on the northern shores of Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, on Wadawurrung Country, overlooking the broad expanse of Port Phillip Bay. This is a landscape of extraordinary beauty, where ancient seabeds and volcanic remnants have given rise to a tapestry of limestone marl, calcareous clay, sandy loams and basalt-derived soils.
The surrounding waters exert a profound influence on the vineyards, tempering the seasons and extending the growing period, allowing fruit to ripen slowly and evenly while retaining freshness and vitality. The mature vines draw deeply from these ancient soils, translating the character of the site into wines of detail, mineral tension and quiet power. It is a place where land and sea exist in constant dialogue, and where every vintage speaks with clarity of its origins.
Regenerative viticulture plays a critical role on the site. It is Sustainable Winegrowing Australia-certified, a member of the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation, and John and Kim are seeking to become Carbon Neutral Certified by Climate Active. The property has obvious and unique natural advantages, but since arriving, they’ve seen a marked improvement in the intensity and evenness of the grapes as they’ve biologically built the depleted soils back up. This has entailed working with custom organic compost, no-till, multi-species cover cropping, integrated livestock grazing, and implementing biodiversity buffers.
General sustainability initiatives focus on minimising water use, maximising energy efficiency, enhancing soil carbon, expanding biodiversity, managing weeds and pests, and closing the loop on the materials, products, and resources that flow in and out of our business. These steps have already paid off, with increased dimensionality and vitality in the wines in the glass.
2025 Vintage
The growing season commenced following a dry winter in 2024, leading into a spring and summer with below-average rainfall and higher temperatures. Persistent dry weather led to lower volumes and smaller berry sizes, yielding wines with excellent structure, concentrated flavours, vibrant acidity, and intense fruit profiles.
2024 Vintage
After an unusually warm and dry winter, the growing season started 2 to 3 weeks earlier than usual. Ample spring rainfall and moderate temperatures were welcome, but an extremely dry summer followed, which assisted the ripening process, producing higher-than-average yields while preserving full flavours and acidity.
The Wines
2025 Circulus Chardonnay RRP $49
Grown on Eocene ferric vertisols of clayey loam over Miocene basaltic clay with Chardonnay clones of UC Davis 110V5, Burgundy import clones 76 and 95 on own roots. Vines planted in 1999 and grafted in 2023 with north-south orientation. 2380 vines/ha (2.8 row width, 1.5m vine spacing). Managed under vertical shoot positioning (VSP) with double Guyot cane pruning.
Hand-harvested 18th and 19th Feb 2025. Wild ferment in French oak barriques (30% new). 20% malolactic fermentation with nine months on lees with bâtonnage, followed by racking and bottling in Jan 2026.
Pale straw in colour. The nose shows Meyer lemon, white peach, brioche, almond, and wet stone. The palate delivers bright citrus and ripe pear, with a creamy texture and a gentle spice on the finish.
2025 Circulus Pinot Noir RRP $49
The 2024-25 growing season on the Bellarine began with a dry winter and early budburst, setting up an early and relatively compressed season across the region. Spring rainfall events were welcome and reasonably well spaced. Dry conditions persisted through late spring and summer, with below-average rainfall from flowering to harvest placing pressure on water resources and contributing to lower yields and smaller berries in some vineyards. The upside was excellent fruit concentration, vibrant natural acidity and strong varietal definition.
Grown on Eocene/Holocene loamy clay and sand over Miocene limestone marl and sandy/silty calcareous clay, alongside free-draining Eocene sandy loam duplex sodosols. Sourced from vineyards planted between 1997 and 2001 with clones that include MV6 and UC Davis D5V12, planted on both own roots and Paulsen 1103 rootstock. North-south-oriented rows are managed under VSP trellising with cordon-trained spur pruning.
Hand-harvested over three picks in early to mid-March 2025, with 10% whole bunch inclusion, and cold-soaked for two days prior to fermentation on skins in open-top fermenters over approximately 15 days. Matured for 10 months in French oak barriques (27% new) before being racked and bottled in March 2026.
Bright ruby in colour, with red currant, cranberry, and pomegranate lifted by maraschino cherry, finishing with fine tannins, red plum, and cedar.
2024 Circulus Cabernet Franc RRP $39
Grown on Eocene/Holocene loamy clay and sand over Miocene limestone marl and sandy/silty calcareous clay. C7V15 Cabernet Franc on own roots. Sourced from mature vines planted in 1999 on a north-south orientation and managed using VSP trellising with cordon-trained spur pruning. Yields averaged 2 tonnes per acre, with hand harvesting on April 10, 2023.
Destemmed whole berries were soaked in open-top fermenters for five days, followed by fermentation over eight days. Matured in aged oak barriques and hogshead barrels for ten months, then racked and bottled in February 2024.
Bright ruby red with a subtle purple rim. Aromatic and inviting, featuring freshly cut violets, rose petals, and vibrant red berries such as raspberry and cherry, complemented by subtle hints of dried herbs like thyme and a touch of earthy minerality from the maritime-influenced terroir. Medium-bodied and elegant, with flavours of dark red fruits including blackcurrant and plum, balanced by fine acidity and supple tannins. The cool-climate origins impart a refreshing vibrancy, while minimal oak influence allows the fruit purity to shine, with underlying notes of green pepper and spice. Long and persistent finish, with lingering herbal nuances, fine-grained tannins, and a clean, mineral-driven close.
Medium deep red-purple colour; sweet cassis and mulberry aromas, the palate intense and bold, with appealing balance and roundness. An approachable young wine: bright, clean and fresh with ripe flavours and aromas, measured tannins, too, which are also properly ripe and there’s no sign of astringency or bitterness. A very smart example of this grape. 92 points. Huon Hooke, The Real Review Dec 2025
2024 Circulus Syrah RRP $49
The Syrah is grown on Eocene/Holocene loamy clay and sand over Miocene limestone marl and sandy/silty calcareous clay. Best’s Old Block Concongella and PT23 clones grown on mature vines planted 1999-2001 with a vine density of 2222 vines/ha (3m row width, 1.5m vine spacing). The vineyard is planted in a north-south orientation and managed under VSP trellising with cordon-trained spur pruning. Yields averaged 2 tonnes per acre. Fruit was hand-harvested in two picks in April 2024.
Destemmed whole berries were fermented in open-top fermenters for five days, followed by fermentation over eight days. Matured in aged oak barriques and hogshead barrels for ten months, then racked and bottled in Feb 2024.
Deep purple with crimson edges. Aromas of blackberry, dark cherry, and cracked black pepper accented by violet florals, black olive and subtle smoked meat. Medium-bodied with juicy dark fruits, fine-grained tannins and a spicy backbone. Minimal oak lets the maritime minerality shine through, adding freshness. Balanced acidity carried to a persistent finish with hints of liquorice and earth.
Vibrant ruby and purple in the glass. Blood plum, wakame and white pepper aromas. Savoury leaning palate with ripe plum core, wakame, iodine, cured meat, crushed rock and pepper spice notes. Glides to a long, dry finish on sandy tannins. Drink 2026–2038 93 points. Huon Hooke Jan 2026
