I’m always thrilled when I get an email from David Chatfield letting me know there are some new Out of Step Wine Co. releases. This is probably even more the case since I was privileged enough to share winery space with Dave this year, and see some of the wines in their early developments. One of those wines is tasted on this edition of Let’s Taste, accompanied by a few 2016 wines. Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Wines tasted;
Out of Step “Catbird” 2017 – RRP $28.00
Out of Step Willowlake Pinot Noir 2016 – RRP $33.00
Out of Step Malakoff Estate Shiraz 2016 – RRP $32.00
I’ve tasted a few wines from Blue Wren, but this is certainly the first Australian white port I’ve ever tasted. Here are my thoughts, let me know what you think in the comments below.
Wine tasted;
Blue Wren White Port (375ml) – RRP $25.00
Shaw Vineyard was a producer I wasn’t familiar with, but to be honest I’m pretty unfamiliar with a lot of wines from New South Wales. The Canberra area is one of the states most premium wine-producing regions, so I was intrigued to look at the Shaw Vineyard wines. Here are my thoughts.
I’ve been familiar with the Coonawarra producer Rymill since my days as a wine buyer for a Melbourne independent wine store, though it’s been at least five years since I’ve tasted any of their wines. I was very interested to look at two of their cabernet sauvignon wines that I received as samples, here are my impressions.
Becoming the Chief Winemaker for Mount Pleasant Wines – one of the most important and historic vineyard/winery operations in Australia – is no mean feat. Being only the fourth chief winemaker since Maurice O’Shea is even more impressive. With incredible and diverse winemaking experience behind him, Jim Chatto did this a few years ago. He also manage to find time to produce some outstanding wines in Tasmania under the Chatto Wines label, where he has also recently been appointed Chief Winemaker of Kreglinger Estates.
I was joined by a very special guest on this edition of Let’s Taste, Piero Fonseca, who as an Italian sommelier and wine wholesaler is an expert in Italian varieties. We looked at a bottle from my cellar, the 2010 Giaconda Nebbiolo. Giaconda is one of Australia’s most cult producers, it’s Beechworth vineyard producing one of the finest chardonnays in the country. I was fascinated to see what their interpretation of the noble nebbiolo grape would be.
As mentioned before here on Let’s Taste and on my podcast The Vincast, Yeringberg is a very special winery for me as they produced my epiphany wine that led me to follow my career path. For a period of time I would try to find older bottles of Yeringberg wines, and this was the last one I had. The bottle unfortunately wasn’t in great condition, but the wine still looked pretty good. Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Not the first time I’ve tasted Toppers Mountain wines on the channel, but the first time I’ve tasted some of their red wines. Toppers Mountain – located in the northern New South Wales region of New England – are known for their use of alternative varieties. They do however produce some more prominent international varieties, so here I can compare their approach to two grapes!
Greg Lambrecht discovered an interest in wine while growing up in California, but his passion for discovery began when he studied in Boston and met the woman who would become his wife. Through family and friends he was able to taste and learn while he developed an incredible career in medical technology. During his wife’s pregnancy he wanted to enjoy a glass of wine but it seemed a waste to open a bottle as she wasn’t drinking. Thus he conceived of a device that could allow someone to drink from a bottle without opening it, and the Coravin is now changing the wine industry around the world.
Increasing the volume of fruit for this vintage meant a lot more pressing. Luckily that was largely automated thanks to the pneumatic press, but there was quite a lot of manual labour required, bucketing solids into the press. Six separate skin-contact ferments were all press at different times, and every time the press needed to be cleaned. The pressing program was as follows;
– One of two tonnes of Riverland Vermentino were fermented on skins in two separate ferments. One was pressed immediately after the completion of fermentation, spending a total of nine days on skins. The other was pressed twelve days later, spending a total of three weeks on skins. Both were transferred to neutral white barriques for ageing.
– One tonne of Mildura Nero d’Avola was de-stemmed and split into two fermenters. After only two days of fermentation one half-tonne was pressed and completed fermentation in a stainless steel tank, whilst the other half-tonne completed fermentation on skins but was pressed soon after, a total of 10 days on skins. Each press went to a 300L mature hogshead barrel for ageing.
– Two tonnes of Pyrenees nebbiolo were de-stemmed and split in half. Both finished fermenting on skins. Nothing was added or removed from these ferments. One tonne was pressed after 15 days on skins, the other spent 56 days on skins. They were split between 2010 and 2012 vintage barriques.
Vino Intrepido is a (soon to be launched) brand that combines great Italian grape varieties with great Australian wine regions and growers, experimenting with different winemaking techniques to bring you delicious wine! If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch via email on vinointrepido@gmail.com
The Vincast - a Wine Podcast with The Intrepid Wino
A podcast about wine, wine culture and wine people. Every week a different guest from the wine industry joins host The Intrepid Wino (aka James Scarcebrook) for a casual chat about the world of wine.
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