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Animale is a collaboration between Arfion and Imbibo wines. Arfion simply means “Our Wine” in Scottish Gaelic. Originally from New Zealand, Winemaker Dave Mackintosh established Arfion with his father Brian and brother Jimmy in 2011. The time was right to build a small independent wine business, where they could be hands on, free to take some risks, and make wines that they truly love. Dave has been obsessed with making wine since ’98 and respects numerous styles. This has driven Arfion to mix things up to create classic, single site, single variety expressions as well as multi-vineyard blends and lo-fi offerings. Sourcing grapes from highly skilled, sustainable growers from across the Yarra, we take care in making sure the site and variety are in harmony throughout the season. Low impact winemaking adds layers of flavour and texture. The Pinot noir is a blend of vineyards from the Upper and Lower Yarra Valley, as well as a blend of juicy carbonic fruit and more restrained destemmed ferments. It is a pure Yarra, Pinot expression showing cherry and red berry flavours followed by a detailed savoury finish.

This wine is made with Pinot Noir fruit grown on some spectacular vineyard sites in the Yarra Valley, comprising predominantly MV6 clone, with some 114 and 115. Pacha Mama use minimal additives or fining and aim to let the fruit shine through rather than clobbering all over it with heavy oak use or commercial wine-making techniques. Flavours of sour cherry and wild strawberries carry on to the palate complexed by a savoury spice and intriguing earthiness that lingers long after the last mouthful.

From Kate Goodman's team, who already bring us the wonderful Punt Rd range, this second label perpetuates their well deserved reputation. This is a soft, fruit driven Pinot from sites around the Yarra Valley. It offers great complexity at this price.

Sandro Mosele's Kooyong Massale Pinot Noir has gamey, wild berry and forest floor aromas offer richness and complexity on the nose. Sappy, sour cherry flavours with well judged oak are framed by silky tannins and bright acidity. Outstanding!

Oakridge Over the Shoulder Cabernet Merlot is bold fruit driven and mouth filling, this wine combines old world style with contemporary wine making techniques.

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.