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A MAGNIFICENTLY FLAVOURED WINE, Cuvee Rose is assertive and complex, vibrant and generous. Redolent with bouquets of ripe red fruit, persistence in it's vibrant pinkish mousse, reminiscent of zabayon. Brut Rose is a seductive wine, the assemblage, which is formed around Pinot Noir, is both spontaneous and balanced, emphasising fruity liveliness. Cuvee Rose exhibits supple variances of hue, the assemblage gives it femininity. There are coppery shades and light amber tones, the complexity excites, a Champagne of naturalness and sensuality.
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE YEAR SAMUAL MCWILLIAMS PLANTED HIS FIRST VINES, 1877 is a national flagship, crafted from the best fruit of vintage. The choicest parcels of estate grown Shiraz are sourced from superior mature vines on the original McWilliams plantings at Barwang among the Hilltops. Since inaugural release, 1877 has accumulated a breathtaking list of wine show trophy wins and countless gold medals. A wine of immense power and drive, its refined line of tannin holding it all together in an act of balance and precision.
WHEN JOHANN GRAMP PLANTED HIS VINES ALONG THE BANKS OF JACOB'S CREEK IN 1847, he was less preoccupied with the making of history but more concerned with the selection of rootstock and fruit, his choice was Shiraz. Jacobs Creek still retain access to some of the oldest vines in Australia and can call on harvests of the finest Barossa Shiraz every year. Previous vintages have claimed conspicuous international awards, including gold Concours Mondiale de Bruxelles and Selections Mondiales de Vins Canada, gold Tasters Guild & International Wine USA.
FOR A WINE THAT RELIES ON LIFTED, zesty fruit notes as this one does, the final assembly sits very close to perfect. Ribbon Vale's fruit produces a different style to that grown at neighbouring Moss Wood. Sauvignon Blanc brings major aromaticness to the wine, the Semillon component contributes heightened flavour profiles. Ribbon Vale is vibrant and juicy, pristine and finer than most variants of the blend. Flavour builds in the glass before a finish that is refreshingly crisp with zippy acidity and an aftertaste that's long and fruitful, dry and lingering.
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Terre a Terre
make wines from the cool climate regions of Adelaide's Piccadilly Valley and Wrattonbully on the Limestone Coast.
Xavier Bizot and Lucy Croser both grew up surrounded by passionate winemaking families. In 2005 they launched their boutique wine import business, Terroir Selections. Together they unearthed small, terroir domaines from Europe for importation to Australia. Inspired by the wines they discovered, they purchased a special piece of land in Wrattonbully and planted their first vineyard. From the beginning the vision for Terre à Terre has been to grow the very best quality grapes, from the same vineyard sites every year, and then vinify them using the best of French and Australian wine practices. In addition to Terre à Terre, the couple also grow and make traditional method sparkling wine under the name DAOSA (Dedicated Artisans of South Australia), from their sparkling Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vineyards in Piccadilly Valley.
Terre a Terre's Crayeres vineyard is in the Wrattonbully GI, located just north of Coonawarra and south of Padthaway. Wrattonbully is considered a fairly new wine region of Australia. The first plantings in Wrattonbully date back to 1969, when 11 hectares were planted by the Penders, including 4 hectares of Shiraz, 4 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon and 4 hectares of Chardonnay. This was followed by John Greenshields, with his Koppamurra Vineyard in 1974, where he planted 4 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon. This vineyard has since been bought by Tapanappa and re named the Whalebone Vineyard, and is situated just across the road from the Terre a Terre vineyard. Wrattonbully's vineyards are located east of the Kanawinka Fault, more elevated than the coastal plains vineyards, as well as being on much older limestone and much older soil sediments. The climate is very similar to Bordeaux with heat summations of 1,350 degree days during the growing season. The climate in the Piccadilly Valley has a long term average of approximately 1,200 degree days during the growing season and the yearly rainfall is approximately 1,100mm. The terroir in the higher, cooler slopes of the Piccadilly Valley makes it ideal for Sparkling wine produced using Methode Traditionnelle. Bizot vineyard is situated in the heart of Piccadilly Valley, one of the highest vineyards at 500m altitude. The soil is red clay and sandy loams over a 70 million-year-old shale rock formation. The Chardonnay is planted on a north-north east facing slope. Late in 2015, Terre a Terre took over management of one of the oldest vineyards in Adelaide Hills, Charles Chilly Hargrave’s property at Summertown in Piccadilly Valley. The Summertown vineyard is planted on a north south ridge. The 1987 Chardonnay plantings are on a gentle west facing slope, coming from cuttings from The Tiers Vineyard nearby, and have always been cane pruned. The Pinot Noir plantings sit on the top and the very steep eastern flank of the ridge, mostly spur pruned, using various clones through a progression of annual plantings. Terre a Terre will continue the long established tradition of Chardonnay and Pinot for the Daosa label's sparkling wines. Much of the 1992 Pinot Noir plantings have been converted to cane pruning for optimal control of yields, for a Piccadilly Valley Pinot Noir under the Terre a Terre label. A long family tradition of outstanding fruit and exceptional wines. A wonderful endowment of vineyards from which to draw the finest vintages. A consuming passion for the winemakers art and the realization of a superb range of wines which are second to none. Exciting times ahead!
Warburn Estate's outstanding
success has been achieved through it's expertise in traditional winemaking and innovative techniques
Warburn Estate is located near Griffith in New South Wales, in the centre of the large Riverina grape-growing and agricultural region. Warburn Estate is one of New South Wales most significant wine producers with more than 1000 hectares under vine, a crush capacity of 40,000 tonnes, tank storage for 35 million litres of wine and an annual turnover of $40 million. Warburn Estate proudly remains a private company, maintaining its winemaking independence with the ability to quickly respond to market demands and client needs. The company (formerly Riverina Wines Pty Ltd), is owned by the Sergi family, whose winemaking traditions began in Italy many years ago. Migrants Giuseppe and his son Antonio began to grow grapes on their farm and making wines for his family and friends using old barrels and hand made machinery. He would often sell bulk wine in 200 litre drums, a practice common in Italian cantinas, and would travel extensively throughout Australia to supply his customers.
Sales were successful and demand for wine high so Antonio decided to expand his business and start up a winery operation in 1968 at Tharbogang. The winery became known as House of Sergi’s. In 1972, the winery was granted an official liquor license and formally opened a shop front in an old fibro building on the winery premises. In 1975, a new shop front was built which still exists today. In 1979, the winery was officially named Warburn Wines. The winery continued to expand rapidly. From the mid-1980’s, many changes took place in the Australian wine industry. The winery recognised the importance of both the domestic and export markets and the need to supply increasing volumes of quality varietal table wines made from such grape varieties as Chardonnay, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc In 1989, Tony Sergi recognising this need for a reliable supply of high quality varietal grapes decided to buy surrounding rice farms at Tharbogang for the planting of large scale, highly technical, vineyards. This is now known as Ballingal Estate vineyard and is still owned by the Sergi family. In the same year the Company exported its first wines to United Kingdom. In 1989, Warburn Estate also launched its first cask, Kooba Estate which is still a favourite in many households. In 1994, Warburn Estate’s Warburn brand was launched. In 1996, the company further invested $14 million in planting the 610 ha in Yenda vineyard which lies 17 kilometres to the east of Tharbogang. The vineyard which uses the latest technology including drip irrigation, EnviroScan soil moisture monitoring, mechanised pruning and harvesting and integrated pest and disease management makes it one of the most technically advanced vineyards in the region. Domestic sales of Australian wine continued to expand in value rather than volume, reflecting a switch from cask or bulk wine consumption to higher priced bottled wine. As such, Warburn Estate’s restructured management team announced a five-year plan to shift the company’s emphasis from bulk wines to quality bottled and packaged wines. By the end of 1998, the Company was awarded 363 medals and 10 trophies in only 4 years of entering the wine show circuit.
Brian Croser, chief
winemaker of Petaluma has been closely involved in the administration and evolution of the modern Australian wine industry.
Established by Brian Croser in 1976, Petaluma is one of Australia's most prominent wine companies. Brian was the head winemaker for Thomas Hardy & Sons before establishing the Riverina College of Advanced Education course of Wine Science and Viticulture in 1976. While at the Riverina College he worked as a consultant to leading wineries and also established the Petaluma wine business in 1976.
Brian was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Science award from Charles Sturt University in 1998, and is is past Chairman of Judges at Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra Wine Shows. In June 2000 in the Queens' Birthday Honours list, Brian Croser was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to the Australian wine industry, particularly through the provision of leadership to industry organizations, support of education and research in winemaking and representation of industry interests to government. In 2004 Brian was awarded the prestigious Decanter man of the Year 2004. Brian has completed fifty vintages spanning the southern and northern hemispheres and thirty-two years in the wine industry. He is driven by quality and continues to set standards of excellence.In choosing the Piccadilly Valley to grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, winemaker Brian Croser recognised the requirement of a cool environment to achieve the acid and finesse of flavour which are the hallmarks of superior sparkling wines fruit. The vineyards were the first planted in the Piccadilly valley. These cooler vineyard sites produce moderate sugar, high acid Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the substance of Croser. Hand picked Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes are chilled and pressed as whole bunches. Only the heart run juice is collected for Croser and no additives are used in the winemaking process. Croser matures on yeast lees before remuage and disgorging. Croser is only disgorged when there is market demand which ensures extended contact with the yeasts that preserves the wines freshness and contributes a wonderful yeastiness. The pristine flavours, defining acidity and elegant fruit structure set Croser apart as one of Australia's few aperitif style sparkling wines.
John Duval is
one of the world's best known winemakers, the poud heir of a family tradition that boasts four generations of South Australian vignerons
He has been saluted many times on the world stage, notably International Winemaker of the Year 1989 and twice Red Winemaker of the Year in 1991 and 2000. After 29 years as a winemaker with Penfolds, one of the world's most famous wineries, John Duval embarked on his own wine label in 2003. John believes he has indeed been fortunate throughout his career, graduating in agriculture and winemaking in 1973 at Adelaide University. John has followed in the footsteps of some of the greats of Australian winemaking such as Max Schubert, the creator of Penfolds Grange and Don Ditter, another famous Penfolds winemaker of the 1970s and early '80s.
There was of course a family precedent to all of this - the Duval family had for many years run a world famous sheep stud and quality vineyards south of Adelaide, coincidentally supplying Shiraz grapes and vine cuttings to Penfolds. So John Duval was never a newcomer to wine. He was appointed Chief Winemaker at Penfolds in 1986 and was lucky enough to oversee one of the most dynamic periods of change in the Australian wine industry. With the support of a dynamic winemaking team in the Barossa, John secured a number of awards for the company - Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London in 1989; Red Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine Challenge in London in 1991 and again in 2000; and seeing the 1990 Penfolds Grange named the Wine of the Year by the prestigious US magazine Wine Spectator in 1995. Toward the end of 2002, John retired from Southcorp after a distinguished career of 28 years, including 16 years as Chief Winemaker for Penfolds. John embarked on the development of his own label in 2003 using old vine Barossa Valley fruit and has created two stunning wines that reflect the terroir of the Barossa and the hand crafted attention of John Duval. Since leaving Penfolds John Duval has consulted to a number of international wine companies in Europe, South America and Australia, including vintner partner in the Long Shadows venture at Washington. The inaugural 2003 Sequel Shiraz was released in late 2005. In Chile John has helped to produce Pangea, highlighting the premium Syrah of the Apalta Valley. In Australia John has consulted to a project using old vine McLaren Vale Shiraz to produce Songlines Shiraz (sold in UK and Australia) and Oriel Sygnet (sold in the US). Today, John rarely gets enough time to spend at home back in the Barossa, but he does insist on securing at least four uninterrupted months around vintage to make his own branded label wines. John clearly loves working with the fruit that comes from the old vines of the region, so he launched his namesake label with 'Plexus', a Rhone style blend of Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre, closely followed in 2006 released with his first pure Shiraz, 'Entity'. John also plans to release small quantities of a reserve Shiraz, further highlighting the premium quality fruit from the Barossa. |
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