Bellebonne: Beautiful and Good
Photo credit: Tyson Stelzer’s YouTube interview with Natalie Fryar
Tasmanian Sparkling has been growing in notoriety over the years with plenty of articles, accolades and benchmark reports to support the rise-and-rise of our Bubbles. A recent article in the The Age/SMH called out several prominent Sparkling winemakers including Bellebonne owner and winemaker, Natalie Fryar.
We recently caught with Tasmania’s “Queen of Bubbles” to find out more about Bellebonne, what the name means, and what it means to Fryar having sacrificed so much to make it happen.
Natalie Fryar’s success in showcasing the beauty and goodness of Tasmania through her Sparkling wine brand Bellebonne (pronounced ‘bell-ee-bon’), has been built on a singular commitment of unerring proportions.
“This is me. This is what I stand for. I’ve given my all to do this. Literally. From selling a house to living on a shoestring, for a while there. I just had to do this for myself,” Fryar explains. “Wine is a deeply creative and thoughtful pursuit. When it truly has your heart, it should reflect who and where you are as a person.”
Underpinning the incredible leaps and sacrifices Fryar had to take to deliver her brand is an unassailable history of sterling work and extensive training.
“Really, Bellebonne was the culmination of more than twenty years of work and learning,” Fryar says of starting the brand, back in 2014. “I worked for five years in Victoria, learning traditional methods of winemaking, then I spent fourteen years working on sparkling wine for Jansz in South Australia and Tasmania. Bellebonne became the product of everything I’d learned in all that time.”
A flair for the creative, expressive, and unpredictable, Natalie would forego purchasing land to launch Bellebonne and instead focused on weaving her vision of Tasmanian sparkling from the best fruits found throughout the region.
The risks have been rewarded with multiple accolades from the wine press and recognition such as Best Sparkling Rosé in the 2022 Halliday Awards. Fryar is frequently referred to as Tasmania’s ‘Queen of Bubbles’; no other maker has her reputation or profile locally when it comes to sparkling wine.
At the absolute heart of the sparkling wines produced by Fryar and Bellebonne is a profound and abiding love for Tasmania. Even the brand’s name is a tribute; meaning ‘beautiful and good’ and derived, in part, from Fryar’s feelings about the ineffable charm of Tasmania itself.
“Bellebonne is my interpretation of the most beautiful place on earth. Because that’s how my wine is made. By Tasmania,” she says. “Winemaking is a great way of capturing nature. Every winemaker has their own way of interpreting the land and place and that’s what makes wine so exciting. And, when you think of the beauty and brilliance of a place like Tasmania, the possibilities are all a little astounding!”
Bellebonne will feature in our upcoming subscription and festive boxes. Stay tuned for updates.