2011

Henty Riesling

Our progression towards incorporating cooler climate wines from properly cool regions sees our first Henty Riesling. From a 28yr old vineyard near Portland in the south west of the state, this Riesling is a pristine, appley, floral and very pretty wine with racy acid and a hint of residual sugar for balance and texture. 11g/L RS, 8g/L TA and only 11% alcohol. Wines from this region age superbly, but it’s a joy to drink now too.

The ancient Garden Gully vineyard was harvested in great condition, with a moderate crop and good natural acidity. fermented in open puncheons this wine is a blend of the best barrels from the 1.5 tonnes received.  All ferments used indigenous yeasts and bacteria, with approximately 30% whole bunches, toned down from previous years because of the cool season to avoid excessive herbal characters. The wine was raised for 12 months in French oak barriques, 35% new. It shows delicacy, lightness and earth, supple tannins and silky texture, with a very savoury, long finish. Bottled with no fining and no filtration

Port Campbell
Pinot Noir

This year we have found a new Pinot Noir site, cooler and further south than our previous source, and capable of producing some very interesting wine due to it’s extreme climate. 15min inland from Port Campbell, home of the 12 apostles, is Newton’s Ridge Vineyard. It is a very small site planted in 1998 to the MV6 clone of Pinot Noir, on Red-Brown fertile soils over limestone bedrock. While 2011 was a very cold and wet year, the vineyard produced a miniscule crop which allowed it to ripen – just. Destemmed and fermented with wild yeasts over 14 days, then pressed to French barriques, 20% new. It was not filtered or fined, and has a delicately spicy and also rose-petal tinged nose, fresh acidity and pure, supple strawberry fruits. Probably not a long-term wine, but will be great in 12 months.

The Story Westgate Vineyard  Marsanne Roussanne Viognier

Grown at Westgate Vineyard, site of some of our best Shiraz grapes. We convinced the grower to replant some old Cabernet with white rhone varietals, 3 rows of Marsanne and one each of Roussanne and Viognier. This was only the second crop harvested from the vines. The tiny yield was picked and pressed all together, settled overnight and then gravity racked to and allowed to ferment with wild yeasts in older French oak barriques. It was sulphured to prevent malolactic fermentation, then left to sit on yeast lees for 9 months before being filtered and bottled. It’s a floral, mid weight style with a silky glycerol texture

Tempest
Grampians Shiraz

Tempest is in effect the darker sibling to last year’s ‘Temperance’ Shiraz. The coolest, most challenging year in decades caused headaches for our growers, with rain, cold, more rain, mildew, a locust plague and floods to contend with. Through this tempest, and by declassifying almost all of our single vineyard parcels, we’ve kept the quality up to our usual standards and I think have perhaps surpassed them. Super fragrant, pepper, blue fruits and spices, a little more oak influence and this year the inclusion of a new, warmer vineyard called Jallukar Ridge to the mix. As always, wild yeast fermented, unfined and unfiltered. 3 vineyards, Westgate, Jallukar Ridge and Garden Gully.

Intro Rose
Grampians Shiraz Rose

With healthy yields, we decided to bleed some juice away from the freshly picked Shiraz at Westgate Vineyard and Jallukar Ridge Vineyard while the juice was just pink, and ferment it in some old barrels as rosé.  Wild yeast fermented to dryness, then left to sit on its yeast lees for 8 months before bottling. It’s a mid-weight, textural and dry rose, with strawberry, orange rind and fairy-floss aromas, spice and good weight in the mouth. Only 3 barrels, and I doubt it will last the summer!