Luke Andree started Sonnen Wine in 2020 with the simple aim of creating tasty wines that express the premium Tasmanian vineyards they come from.

“Sonnen is all about doing justice to the tireless work of the people who grow the amazing fruit we have access to in Tassie – the people who spend their entire year stressing about the weather, who are up at the crack of dawn fixing tractors or out in the vineyard pruning in the freezing cold and fog.”

Luke first trained as a physiotherapist, funding his way through uni selling wine at Dan Murphy’s. It was this part-time gig that solidified where his real passion lay.

He ditched physio for a viticulture degree and began working in the growing and making side of the wine industry, including at Boomtown Winemakers Cooperative in Castlemaine, Stefano Lubiana near Hobart, and Oakridge in the Yarra Valley.

In 2018-19 Luke held the vineyard manager role at Mac Forbes in the Yarra and then travelled to Mosel in Germany to work vintage at biodynamic winery,Weingut Melsheimer.

Sonnen is the culmination of these years of travelling and working with winemakers who generously shared their knowledge. It’s also a continual creative evolution as Luke experiments with different parcels of fruit from across Lutruwita/Tasmania.

“The thing we want people to do while drinking our wines is to have fun. It doesn’t have to be a super serious. As long as it can accompany good times, then we’re happy.”

All Sonnen wines are unfiltered and hand-bottled under cork, using Australian

glass to minimise food miles. They’re fermented in oak, mostly aged barrels, using natural primary and malolactic ferment techniques.

Sometimes with his reds, Luke takes juice out of a ferment and adds it back in when blending the wine, giving a freshness and energy.