Between Five Bells | Victoria

Between Five Bells (B5B) is a collaborative project between Ray Nadeson, iconic winemaker for the wonderful Lethbridge Wines and two of his friends: wine merchant David Fesq and top Sydney sommelier and restaurateur, Josh Dunne. Right from their 2009 debut, the priority has been drinkability, with Californian field blends and Southern Rhône wines as particular inspirations.

The name of the project takes inspiration from Kenneth Slessor's famous poem, Five Bells. Between Five Bells are the last three words in the first stanza of the poem, which is understood to tell the tale of the death of Joe Lynch, a friend of the poets, and is set on, in and around Sydney Harbour. The “bells” are a reference to ship's-bells, rung to announce the time of a ship's-watch, and are used to infer the concept of time, and how time relates to both the poet and drowning death of Joe. It's a poem about place and the spirit of place and central to the way the team think about the B5B wines.

The labels on the wine bottles are a key element of Between Five Bells; some wines bear infographics of extraordinary beauty, containing more winemaking information than probably any other wine on the market. Others have their production and flavour profile illustrated over the course of several different labels per wine. This is very much an artisanal producer and quantities of these sought after wines are minuscule!

BETWEEN FIVE BELLS