Vintage Brut
Conceived as a snap-shot of Tasmania, the Vintage Brut is blended from select, small parcels of grapes from vineyards, tended by sustainability-minded growers, across Tasmania, to express the multiplicity of Tasmania’s terroirs and the character of the year. Blending this wine is about respecting the character of the vintage, preserving it’s individual, complex identity. The opposite of blending for conformity or to enforce a house style on the fruit that the vineyards have given us. Working within a Chardonnay dominant matrix, the Vintage Brut usually consists of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir or Pinot Noir/ Pinot Meurnier.
Once bottled, the wines spend a minimum of six years on yeast lees and are then further aged under cork (for anything from six months up to two years) before release. Vintages are released when we judge them to be ready to drink. The wines are made to retain their freshness, so they can of course be cellared further if you wish, but you do not have to. Each release is limited to 2500 individually numbered bottles (plus magnums). The small numbers allow us to exercise strict control over the winemaking whilst individual bottle numbering means you are assured of provenance.
Traditional Method
2012
Varietal composition: 70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir.
Multi-regional blend: Tasman Peninsula, Coal River Valley, Tamar Valley.
Technical notes: Almost seven years on yeast lees (disgorged 28 January 2019) with a further two years under cork prior to initial release. Light dosage of 2.5 g/L, 12.8% alcohol v/v, TA 7.3 g/L, pH 2.97, partial MLF.
Tasting notes: "As fresh as a Spring morning,.. so pretty & delicate on the nose with fresh lemon, raw pastry dough, green apple & white peach blossom... The delicacy continues with minuscule bubbles dancing on the tongue & those springy/autumnal morning notes are joined by ground almonds, a clean salinity & a hint of caramelised pecans, vanilla, peaches, lemon posset & mouthwatering acidity. If you’re looking for a big, bold & rich sparkling, this ain’t it! This is as fine as a dewy, gossamer web on a hedge twinkling away as the sun rises & the new day brings its potential. This can age for years if you want to see those nutty flavours work their way to the fore but if you like things fresh, light, delicate & precise, don’t dilly dally, today is your day.." Curly Haslam-Coates The Wine Front
Vintage note: A warm, mild year with good fruit set, perfect ripening conditions and low disease pressure. A truly hands-off year and real pleasure for winemakers because all that needed to be said had already happened in the vineyard.
Production volume: Exceedingly rare, 1400 bottles in total.
Awards & media
Gold Medal, Late Disgorged Vintage Sparkling Wine Class, 2021 Tasmanian Wine Show
97 points Decanter Aug 2022
96 points The Real Review Apr 2022
96 points Huon Hooke Sept 2021
95 points The Wine Front May 2021
Traditional Method
2014 Vintage Brut: New Release
Varietal Composition: 70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir
Regional Blend: Coal River Valley and Tasman Peninsula
Use of reserve wines: Initial blend had 2% puncheon-aged material, drawn primarily from 2011. At
disgorging, the liqueur d’expedition included a tiny proportion (1.75%) of wines
from the 2022 vintage.
Technical notes: Eight years
on lees, disgorged 12 August 202, 2 g/L dosage, TA 8.98 g/L, 12.1% alcohol v/v.
Vintage note: 2014 in Tasmania was a superb Chardonnay year. A warm to cool season with delayed ripening and patchy fruit set, particularly in Pinot Noir. The mild to warm growing conditions and reduced yeilds produced exceptional flavours and age-worthy wines.
Closure: Natural cork (Amorim
Spark)
Production volume: 1560 bottles
Blanc de Blanc
Literally white of white. A white wine made from a white grape variety. The singular is quite deliberate. These are wines that showcase a single variety. The current 2014 wines celebrate Chardonnay.
Second Disgorgement
2014 Blanc de Blanc D2
The fruit is from a single vineyard, Made purely from cuvee (no pressings). The juice was fermented in French oak barrels (puncheons and barriques) with a combination of wild yeast (indigenous yeast from the grape skins) and inoculated yeast strains and MLF was blocked (with low temperatures).
At completion of primary fermentation, wines received light lees stirring before being racked off gross lees.
Varietal composition: 100 % Chardonnay. Single vineyard (Stringybark Tamar valley, N Tasmania)
Technical notes: Almost eight years on yeast lees, 2.5 g/L dosage. pH 3.03, TA 8.3, alcohol 11.83% v/v, malolactic fermention blocked with cool temperature tirage. Disgorged Mar 2022. A mere 900 bottles in this final release.
Tasting notes: Proving the power of time on yeast lees & even small variations in composition to produce profound changes to the sparkling wine in one's glass. With an extra 16 months on yeast lees & a different reserve wine in the dosage liqueur (a mere 0.25% in both cases), the second disgorgement of the 2014 pure cuvee Blanc de Blanc has a distinct identity from it's predecessor.
Palest green-gold in hue. Clean on the nose and fresh like an alpine meadow with integrated aromas of toasted almonds, lime blossom, lemon curd, pretty white florals, crunchy green apples and wet stones. Delicate, with loads of finesse the palate is long, and satisfying with a dry, savoury, almost saline finish. A very youthful eight year old!
Gold Medal 2022 Australian Sparkling Wine Show
96 Points Huon Hooke
Brut Rosé
There are so many ways of making pink wines & consequently, numerous styles of rosé. While the techniques used to arrive at the final wine may evolve over time & with vintage the aim is always to reflect the fruit. Similarly the composition of the wines may change depending on the balance between Chardonnay, Pinot Noir & Pinot Meunier produced/sourced each year.
Traditional Method/ Modified Ancestral
2015 Brut Rosé
Variatal composition: Pinot Noir (MV6), single vineyard (Orani, Sorell-Tasman).
Winemaking: Made as a pure expression of single vineyard, Southern Tasmanian Pinot Noir. Utilising a modified ancestral method. The cuvée and pressings portions of the juice were separated and cold settled. The pressings underwent spontaneous fermentation to dryness in aged oak. Light lees stirring of the oak portion aimed to build palate depth without overpowering the wine’s delicate texture. The tank, however, was chilled to slow and then completely halt the spontaneous fermentation before being blended
with the dry base wine in barrel to achieve a residual sugar content of around 23 g/L. The blended wine and must was then warmed for tirage.
Technical notes: Seven years on lees (disgorged Aug 2022), 2 g/L dosage, TA 6.5 g/L, pH 3.24, no MLF. Vegan friendly, made with minimum sulphites. Closure: natural cork
ABV: 11.4%
Tasting notes: Deep salmon blush. A sophisticated aperitif-style of Rosé. Elegantly long, dry and complex, Aromas of raspberries, cranberries), ripe peach, cherry, quince, dried rose petals and herbs. A fresh, fine palate of red berry fruits, quince paste with a zing of raspberry sherbet on the mid-palate overlay savoury/umami characters derived from the 7 year sojourn on yeast lees. The firm acid line and thrust of tannin compliment a lightly textured mouthfeel to give a refined, balanced palate and lingering, dry satisfyingly, moreish finish. Seriously frivolous.
Serve lightly chilled (8-10oC). Perfect with banhmi, duck/pork bao buns, tapas, or your favourite selection of Tasmanian cheeses and fresh seafood.
93 points The Real Review
Production size: 500 bottles
