Tony Jordan

Anthony Douglas Jordan (28 May 1944 – 27 August 2019) was an Australian winemaker and oenologist.

In the 1970s, Jordan, along with winemaker Brian Croser developed the oenology program at what is now Charles Sturt University. He later founded the wine consultancy Oenotec with Croser. For most of his career, Jordan worked for Moët-Hennessy, establishing and managing wineries around the world, including Domaine Chandon in the Yarra Valley. In his retirement, he scouted the location for the Ao Yun winery. Throughout his life, Jordan was deeply involved in the Australian wine industry and judged numerous wine competitions both nationally and internationally.

Jordan was very influential on the Australian wine industry.

Early life and education Jordan was born in Perth, Australia on 28 March 1944, as the first of three children to Doug and Mary Jordan. He had two younger sisters, Maria and Frances. His father, Doug, was one of Australia's leading bookmakers. When he was seven, his family moved to Melbourne, where he attended Caulfield Grammar School and excelled academically.

Jordan attended the University of Sydney, graduating with first-class honours and completed a PhD in electron spectroscopy in 1970.

Career Jordan worked as a researcher at the University of Houston and University College London. After returning to Australia in 1974, he became a patent attorney in Sydney. This program was influential on the modern Australian wine industry.

Oenotec In 1978, Jordan left his lecturing position to join Oenotec, the wine consultancy group founded by Croser. Their frequent plane travel from harvest to harvest led to the term "flying winemaker" being coined, and, unusually for the time, they provided hands-on winemaking expertise. With numerous clients, it was not feasible to visit them all, so most advice was given over the phone from Piccadilly, South Australia. Their model involved taking oenology graduates and, with some instruction, place them as full-time winemakers with clients. There was also speculation that they were making excessive profit by selling R2 yeast, which Croser contested. They improved production by promoting the exclusion of oxygen in winemaking, and the use of refrigeration and stainless steel. Oenotec was founded as wine production globalized beyond select European countries. The company was later merged into Wine Network Australia in 1993.

Moët-Hennessy

In 1984, Moët-Hennessy tasked Jordan with finding an Australian site for a new upmarket sparkling wine facility called Domaine Chandon on the recommendation of James Halliday, After an eighteen month search, Jordan selected an old dairy farm called Greenpoint in the Victorian town of Coldstream, in the Yarra Valley, for its climate and soil. In November 1985 Jordan was appointed CEO and chief winemaker of Domaine Chandon, The winery was established the next year. Early on, most grapes used by Domaine Chandon were bought from other vineyards. The wine produced in this period, vintage sparkling, was acclaimed. During the 1990s, Jordan began consulting on international Chandon wineries, which involved stepping away from Domaine Chandon. In the mid-1990s he was in charge of exports for Moët-Hennessy, and travelled for three months a year, mainly to England. From 1998 to 2000, he ran the Wirra Wirra winery after a disagreement over Domaine Chandon's strategy, before returning to Domaine Chandon. In 2001 he assumed technical and winemaking responsibilities for all global Chandon ventures, including in Argentina, Brazil, California and Spain. In 2004, Domaine Chandon Australia under Jordan became the first up-market sparkling wine producer to use the crown cork to close bottles. James Halliday opined in 2007 that Jordan's return to Domaine Chandon improved the product's property.

Ao Yun Jordan retired from Domaine Chandon in 2008 and restarted Oenotec, undertaking consulting in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Asia. He was hired in 2008 by LVMH to choose locations for and set up Chandon India (established in 2014 in Maharashtra) and Chandon China (established in 2011 in Ningxia to produce sparkling wines). He was also tasked with finding a location for the 'Ao Yun' label. To find a location, Jordan used soil and weather analysis. If the weather was too cold, as in the north of China, the vines would have to be buried, which impact quality. In the east of China, wine is difficult to grow due to mildew and disease. He selected Deqin County, Yunnan after a trip revealed comparable conditions to Bordeaux, and he surprisingly found Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc vines planted in the 1840s by French missionaries. The Chinese government had previously planted vines there in 1992 or 2002. He searched for four years, mostly travelling on foot with weather measuring equipment on his back. The first vintage (the 2013) of Ao Yun was released in 2016.

Administration and judging Jordan was president of the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology from 1990-1991 and was influential in its early development. He was president of the Small Wine Makers Forum in 1985. He was president of the Yarra Valley Wine Growers Association from 2008-2010. He chaired the Wine Show Technical Advisory Committee, tasked with assessing best practices for Australian wine competitions, and he was a board member of Wine Australia for six years. including the Decanter World Wine Awards. He was one of three judges in the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships alongside Tom Stevenson and Essi Avellan from its inception in 2014 to 2018. Jordan was the chairman of the Royal Hobart Wine Show, the Perth Royal Wine Show and the Hong Kong International Wine Competition. which was planted to supply grapes for Domaine Chandon.

Personal life On 29 December 1998 in London, Jordan married his second wife Michele Jordan.

Jordan became interested in wine while attending university. With Michele, he was interested in gardens, and he planted an arboretum in Hoddles Creek, in the Yarra Valley where he lived. Jordan became interested in Tibetan culture following trips to South Asia, and he was also interested in walking, golf and chair-making. He was a leading Australian oenologist.

Jordan was awarded the Order of Australia medal in 2013 for his contribution to the Australian wine industry.