Sam Leyshon (Class of 2000) – the ‘Cool and Gentlemanly Young Winemaker’

Sam Leyshon (Class of 2000) is the wine maker at Mallaluka Wines in Murrumbateman.

Sam works alongside his father and the founder of Mallaluka Wines, John Leyshon (former deputy principal). Sam is largely responsible for the delicious Mallaluka wines, and apart from his winemaking knowledge, technique and expertise here, he’s also handy to have around all those workplace hazards on the winery.

Sam can also be found making wines for Clonakilla as their ‘Young Winemaker’. Clonakilla report that Sam is an actual, real life cool dude, a singer in a rock’n’roll band kicking around the live music scene in Melbourne’s most legitimate dive bars, and a real-life gentleman. They say if you ask him to do something for you and he’s unable to for whatever reason, sometimes his eyes are welling up. Let’s call him our ‘Cool and Gentlemanly Young Winemaker’, they conclude.

Mallaluka Wines launched in 2014. John Leyshon had been making wines as a hobby since the late 90’s, running label Little Bridge Wines with three mates.

Sam was recently interviews by goodfood.

“When I was a young teenager, I’d be out helping plant the vines and prune the vines and when it was time for the winemaking, I’d be hanging around the winery.”

“But then through my mid to late 20s, without meaning to, I distanced myself from it. I wasn’t interested in wine at all, I never considered it a career, Dad certainly never pressured me to ever have that as a career, it wasn’t a very big business at the time.”

Sam moved to Melbourne – a move that was meant to be a step away from the wine industry, but ironically, ended up pulling him back in. Working at a wine store, he was inspired by some of the younger producers coming through and the wines they were producing, so he decided to study wine science at university.

“I loved the science part of it all but working at this store in Melbourne showed me this whole new world of interesting more experimental varieties and methods of winemaking that opened up many door ways in my head.”

He decided to make the move back to Yass in 2015, and secured a job working at Clonakilla, where he made his first wine. Being back in the area, he and his dad also decided to make a go of it with Mallaluka.

“Dad was making all the wine then, and he just needed help. He said, ‘no pressure but we might have to let go of the property, because I just can’t maintain it on my own’. So I thought I reckon I’ll come back and give it a go. I saw a lot of people who were desperate to own their own vineyards and have access to a winery and not everyone can do that. So I felt like I was in a really good position to take hold of something interesting.”

Together with his dad, they’ve continued to make Mallaluka’s traditional range of wines, and have also added more experimental smaller batch labels.

“I’ve pushed things pretty hard, I’ve tipped some wine in the drain, and made some interesting failures. But you’ve gotta try it. Naturally I am more interested, whether it be art or foods or music, I do like something a little less conventional. That’s just what I’ve been exposed to and what I’m into. So wine is no different. I do try and push boundaries so to speak and come up with something interesting,” says Sam.

“And dad’s an absolute legend in giving me such free reign. I’ve ruined some awesome fruit that he put hard work into, and he’s just laughed it off. And from the start he’s just like, ‘look Sambo, I want you to know that if this doesn’t work out it’s ok, if we have to tip it out, it’s ok, it’s not that much’. That’s what I do love about mum and dad both, they’re very open minded in that way. But I do want to come up with something interesting that’s not as unhinged, and maybe a little bit more sophisticated, but we’re getting there.

John and Sam now run Mallaluka Wines together, while they still both work day jobs.

“We haven’t taken the plunge to make this full time as of yet. But this is my fourth time I’ve done a double harvest (at Clonakilla and Mallaluka) on top of my day job, and it’s taxing,” he says.

“The best thing about it is working with family, and having that connection with the things that you’re growing and the things you’re making and setting it out into the market.”