Ray Chen is the winemaker behind Rongo Wines, a label she has built alongside a career in winemaking and wine buying. Named one of Young Gun of Wine’s Top 50 winemakers for 2026, Ray is also a member of Wine Australia’s Research Advisory Committee and an alumna of its Future Leaders program.
Ray spent her early years across New Zealand, China and the Netherlands, followed by time working in the wine industry in the US before settling in Australia. Today, she makes Rongo wines from a converted-garage urban winery in Melbourne’s south-east.
Working with fruit from single vineyards across Victoria, she makes wines with the table in mind, particularly the Asian food cultures she grew up with. For her, wine is never considered in isolation: it is part of the broader pleasure of eating, drinking and sharing a table.
As far as I’m concerned, the defining place to get a drink in Victoria is Neighbourhood Wine. It’s long been a favourite of mine. Its extensive list gives genuine support to Victorian, natural and organic producers, while still offering an impressive breadth of international wines at very approachable prices. There is a timeless, European warmth to the room and it’s the sort of place where you can settle into a corner with friends and a glass, and comfortably lose track of time.
When someone hands me a drinks list, I go straight to the fortified section. I love beginning with an aperitif. From there, I look at the regional representation, the value across the list and whether there are emerging producers or alternative varieties that invite a little exploration – I love a drinks list that offers a sense of discovery without taking itself too seriously.
The last three delicious Victorian things I drank were…
2025 Muto Wine Close Contact
A skin-contact field blend of macabeo, malvasia, moscato giallo and picpoul. It’s energetic and wonderfully zippy, with just enough pithy grip to recall biting into a juicy tangerine.
2023 Oakridge 864 Close Planted Syrah
I love a classic cool-climate syrah, and this has a beautiful fragrance and layers of Asian spice that carry through the palate. There is real precision to the wine, with fine, elegant tannins and a sense of restraint.
2021 Municipal Flor Savagnin
What could be more fun than the combination of savagnin and flor? It has incredible acidity and structural backbone, with a complex spectrum of nuttiness, salinity and finger lime. The palate is focused and concentrated, definitely one for drinkers interested in venturing beyond the familiar.
The Victorian wine I’m loving most right now is the 2024 Giaconda Estate Vineyard Roussanne. Hands down, one of the most serious and impressive expressions of roussanne in Australia. It unfolds in layers of herbs and flowers, while the palate delivers the variety’s characteristic breadth and plushness, all held together by a tightly woven backbone of acidity. Can’t say enough good things about it.
There’s no better value on a wine list or in a bottle shop in Victoria than Beechworth chardonnay. The best examples offer remarkable depth, complexity and site expression, often at a fraction of the price of their Old World equivalents.
My favourite place to buy booze is… There are far too many wonderful independent retailers to choose from, but Sessions at Arden holds a special place for me. It supports an enormous number of small producers, and I can always find an interesting sake or some unusual Highball flavours to top up my wine basket.
I’d love to see people planting more gamay in Victoria. I love gamay. It can be a profoundly serious wine, or simply joyful and immensely drinkable. The Macedon Ranges, Beechworth and Geelong all have exciting potential for the variety, and I would love to see more expressions of the lighter, fragrant style of red wine that Victoria can do so well.
My guilty pleasure in the fridge, drinks cabinet or at the bar is a glass of Madeira or manzanilla.
The best or most important change to the way people drink in Victoria in recent years has been… I haven’t lived in Melbourne long enough to pretend I have observed its drinking culture over decades. But when I arrived from the US during COVID, I was struck by how enthusiastically people supported small local producers who were building something of their own or just beginning their journey.
Victorian drinkers are also remarkably open to unfamiliar varieties, new ideas and different ways of making wine. As a small producer, that curiosity and generosity have been very special to experience.
For me, the most inspiring people in the Victorian drinks world are the growers who remain committed to their principles and continue nurturing the best fruit they can, allowing winemakers to turn it into something people will cherish and share. The past few years have been challenging to say the least, yet so many growers have persevered without compromising what they believe in, showing a lot of resilience, patience and connection to the land.
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