Oakridge Wines Local Vineyard Series Henk's Vineyard Pinot Noir
Jamsheed Seville Yarra Valley Syrah
Sourced from a vineyard nestled in the foothills of the cool southern vales of the Yarra Valley where the grey loam soils show seams of deep red volcanic clay, the 2015 Seville syrah is handpicked, fermented with a high proportion of whole bunches and receives no additions other than a small amount of sulphur dioxide at picking and bottling. It is then aged in older French barrels before being bottled unfiltered and unfined.
Quealy Campbell & Christine Pinot Noir
This Pinot Noir vineyard was established by Doctors Campbell and Christine Penfold in 1994 and Quealy have worked closely with them from the beginning.
Toolangi Estate Pauls Lane Pinot Noir
Expect layers of fleshy Pinot fruit, suggesting rose petal, plum and earth, balanced by fine, powdery tannins and a long complex finish that perfumes the mouth with sour cherries and sappy freshness. The Pauls Lane Pinot was hand harvested from Toolangi's 2001 plantings (MV6 clone grapes in E Block rows 46-66), partially de-stemmed (50% whole bunches retained) and naturally fermented in open top wooden fermenters. In total, the wine spent 23 days on skins before being pressed to French oak (20% new) for eight months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. "A producer that demonstrates a deep commitment to terroir in producing Australias finest and most distinctive wines." Nick Stock, Good Wine Guide In case you hadnt heard the good news, Helmut Konecsny, the owner of Rochford Wines, has purchased Toolangi Vineyards and has immediately started ringing in the changes. Of course, its early days, but from what we have seen so far, the future for Toolangi now looks very, very bright. Apart from the new packaging, Konecsny and his team seem very serious about rejuvenating and upgrading the work in the vines. This was, after all, one of the few Yarra producers to engage the services of renowned soil scientist Claude Bourguignon on his recent visit to Australia, and the Toolangi vineyard was one of the sites he analysed. In terms of winemaking, Toolangi will now control its own destiny with the talented duo of Kaspar Hermann and Kelly Healey working closely with seasoned Yarra viticulturist John Evans. Hermans CV includes stints at Seville Estate, Viticoltori De Concillis in Campania, Coldstream Hills, Punch (formally Diamond Valley) and Mount Mary where he worked as assistant winemaker for 8 years before joining Toolangi. Kelly Healey started his wine career in Otago in his homeland of New Zealand before donning the Blundsones at Chandon in the Yarra Valley and Moet & Chandon in India, followed by a spell at Kilchurn in Macedon until he accepted the role working alongside Kaspar. Crucial to the Toolangi team is experienced viticulturist, John Evans. Johns previous experience includes Chief Viticulturist at Yering Station for 14 years, Vineyard Manager at Yarra Ridge and worked at De Bortoli, as well as various Vineyard Consulting roles including the setup and redevelopment of Toolangi Vineyard in 2001, which he has continued to this day. Safe to say, John knows the Yarra like the back of his hand and exactly how to get the best from the Toolangi vineyard. Another positive is that there are currently only two tiers of winethe Toolangi and Pauls Lane labels. The first set of wines under the new team hail from 2018. Under the new regime, there is no inoculation for any of the wines, the Pinots take in a large portion of whole bunch ferments, and the reds are neither fined nor filtered. The winemakers also take a balanced approach to new oak, so even the top label is capped at 20% new barrels. Its very early days, yet the first set of wines makes a statementan excellent statement. Going forward it will be fascinating to see the consequences of Konecsnys and the new teams intention to apply the time honoured vigneron model on the Toolangi wines. The future is bright.
Garagiste Merricks Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir
Fruit for this wine was hand sorted twice & produced in two ways; one fermenter of whole berries & another of 100% whole bunches. Blended together. Matured in 300-litre hogsheads (roughly 20% new, François Frères). Ten months on lees before bottling, unfiltered. A graceful & savoury expression of Mornington Pinot Noir. Red plum, spice & dark cherry characters. Fine, supporting tannins. A lingering, perfumed finish of amaro spice.
Montalto Pennon Hill Pinot Noir
Montalto's 2018 Pennon Hill Pinot Noir has delicious aromas of red currants, blueberry, sour cherry, cranberry and dried strawberry combine with florals, dried herbs, spice, and earthy forest-floor qualities. On the palate, generous juicy red fruits meld with bramble and earth. The warmer 2018 season lent itself to increasing the amount of Montalto-style whole-bunch fermentation; this technique involves loading whole bunches into a 2T open-fermenter and allowing them to undergo 10 to 14 days of carbonic maceration before being destemmed into 2 tonne open fermenters where primary wild fermentation is completed. The result is a significant increase in aromatics and savoury complexity. In 2018, 21% of the blend was made using this technique. The remaining portion of fruit is sorted on the table, destemmed and then allowed to soak on skins until the onset of wild fermentation. Ferment temperatures peaked at 32 degrees Celsius. At the completion of primary fermentation, the grapes were pressed and the wine transferred to French oak barriques and Puncheons (19% new) for natural malo-lactic fermentation. Barrel maturation was for 9 months followed by bottling. Chief winemaker Simon Black and the award-winning winemaking team at Montalto, manage the production of the three ranges in the Montalto stable of wine. Their focus is to create wines of exemplary quality and character, utilising winemaking techniques that complement the unique qualities derived from their vineyards, in a style that reflects each vineyard site. Montaltos three wine labels Pennon Hill, Montalto Estate and the Single Vineyard range are drawn from five different vineyards across the Mornington Peninsula. Montalto winemaker Simon Black explains how the wines relate: To use an analogy, the Single Vineyard wines are like the principal soloists in an orchestra; each is unique in their offering. Years of innovative trial work in the winery has given us the knowledge required to capture the hallmark qualities and personality from these sites. The Estate wines are more like the orchestra, where all the musicians come together to create a multilayered symphony. These wines are crafted from our best parcels of fruit from our vineyards across the Peninsula. The Pennon Hill wines are all about drinkability. They showcase all the qualities that the Mornington Peninsula is best known for perfume, purity, varietal expression and brightness.
Giant Steps Syrah
A beautifully crafted Syrah from Yarra Valley experts, Giant Steps, sourced from their Tarraford vineyard. Yarra elegance at its best.Deep red. Violets, plum, blackberry and Campari spice. Vibrant and juicy yet deeply flavoured, showing black and purple fruit density, gently savoury tannins, supple acidity and whole bunch spice, and deliciously deluxe charry oak.
Zonzo Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Beautiful blackberry, spice and cassis are the hallmarks of this variety. The Zonzo Reserve has captured all these characters and more on the nose and pallet.The palate compliments the perfume of this wine with lovely cool climate Yarra Valley characters of tobacco leaf, cassis and black fruits. Beautiful oak influences the palate and integrates with the fruit and tannin profile to deliver an elegant yet rich Cabernet.
Warramate Syrah
2017 gifted the Yarra Valley with superb growing conditions, and the resulting wines, like this beauty, have wonderful harmony, balance and depth.Medium garnet colour. Dark plummy fruit with spicy complexity and subtle leaf and graphite. Medium-weight yet plush and focussed with plum, spice and undergrowth complexity, cocoa and subtle mocha depth, subtle secondary characters and spicy length.