About Latta
Many winemakers grow up around wine, but very few find themselves responsible for an entire vintage before they’re old enough to legally have a drink. Owen Latta was just 15 when an accident at the family winery meant he had to step up and take the reins at Eastern Peake.
What began as an unexpected introduction to winemaking quickly became a lifelong path. Today, Owen is at the heart of production at Eastern Peake, crafting a focused range of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from the family’s elevated, ultra cool vineyard at Coghills Creek, Western Victoria. Alongside this, his Latta Vino label gives him room to explore, experiment and have a little more fun with different varieties, sites and winemaking ideas.
Owen was born just after his parents, Dianne and Norman, planted their first vines in 1983. Growing up among the vines, he always knew wine was part of the family story, but it was that fateful vintage in 1999 that really set his course.
“I was 15, coming home from school one afternoon when I found out Dad had had a minor accident leaving him out of action for a while,” Owen recalls. “I was told I had to step up and look after the cellar and do as he would do.”
So he did. Owen was punching down fermenters before school, heading off on the bus with wine stains on his uniform and learning the rhythms of a vintage the old-fashioned way: by getting stuck in.
That early experience shaped the way Owen thinks about wine. For him, great winemaking starts well before the winery, with the vineyard, the season and the place. His approach is hands-on but deliberately uncomplicated, allowing the fruit and site to do the talking.
After studying wine science and working vintages around Victoria and Burgundy, there was never really any question of Owen leaving Coghills Creek behind.
“I’m born and bred in Coghills Creek,” he says. “I love the ultra-cool climate, the diverse volcanic soils and the elevation, and what this gives us to produce really distinctive wines.”
The family vineyard was identified early on as having something special. Dianne and Norman were encouraged by Australian wine legend Trevor Mast to plant Pinot Noir, with the first vines going in during 1983. Mast later encouraged the family to make their own wine and helped with the design of the winery. His advice has stayed with Owen ever since: get the vineyard right and the winemaking becomes much easier.
That philosophy remains at the heart of Eastern Peake today. Owen farms and makes wines with a strong sense of place, keeping the cellar work thoughtful and restrained rather than chasing fashion or forcing a style.
And then there’s Latta Vino, where Owen gets to loosen the tie a little. It’s where curiosity takes over, allowing him to work with different vineyards, varieties and techniques, and follow a wine wherever it wants to go.
The result is a winemaking style that feels distinctly Owen: deeply connected to place, grounded in experience, but never afraid to experiment.
- “I look at myself and wonder if I had or have some kind of undiagnosed hyperactivity disorder or something … the vast array of wine styles that have been produced in the cellar is sometimes staggering.”
Over the years, Owen’s work has earned some recognition, like the Gourmet Traveller Wine Young Winemaker of the Year award in 2018. And recently awarded the 2025 Young Gun of Wine.
Through Eastern Peake and Latta Vino, Owen continues to craft wines that tell a story of place and time often pushing the boundaries with his innovative approach.
