Sanguine Estate*
This is definitely a winery to visit in Heathcote. Mark Hunter is the winemaker and co-owner of this family-owned vineyard. Although he has no winemaking degree, he has gained first-hand experience from doing vintages with other winemakers. The winery set-up is very impressive and what you would expect from someone who makes wines of excellent quality. Mark describes himself as a winemaker who draws his influences from both the old and new world. Although he is not certified organic, he used methods which are organic. The vineyard is 20 ha and is with cambrian soil as well as a clay base and full of rocks. This produces fruit with tannic structure and full of berries. In a warm year, the soil looks after the vines much better and holds on to the moisture; the roots also go deeper. All his wines are fermented by wild yeast and grapes are dusted with sulphur before picking so that the grapes won't start fermenting under the hot sun. This also prevents the grape juice from oxidising and losing flavour. This is different from some vignerons who add sulphur after picking the grapes. When I asked Mark if he ever had to add yeast nutrients, he said that 2008 was the only year he had to do it as nutrient levels in the grapes were out of whack.
Mark uses whole berry ferments most of the years and whole bunches in some years. The winery itself is quite high-tech for producer that makes about 3000 cases a year(He only makes 3-4 barrels of Chardy per year). He uses his 3-tonne fermenters with pnuematic plunges. It is difficult to hand plunge 3-tonne fermenters unless it is 2 instead. To chill the must, he runs a brine solution on the sides of the tank and can maintain temperatures of up 8 degrees. In terms of reductive characters, he doesn't get much of that even with lots of lees so he doesn't have to use copper. To overcome reduction, he racks the fermenting must using gravity and this is possible with the design of his fermenters. When it comes to acid adjustment, Mark is very careful and nervous about it.
I have had the opportunity to taste some really good stuff from Mark that I would like to benchmark in the future against the wines from the States.
The 2009 Progeny Shiraz (A very good price of $20)is co-fermented with 10% with Viognier in 10% new oak. It is later combined with Shiraz that reduces the Viognier component to 1-2% Viognier. Mark tells me the shiraz with the 10% Viognier is just undrinkable. The Progeny is deep black purpple with lifted notes and has this beautiful apricot, dense fruit and black pepper. On the palate is full of ripe fruit and beautiful tannin structure. A very integrated wine./p>
The 2007 D'Orsa Shiraz 14.8% is what you want to keep for a long time. At $60, you get a deep black inky appearance with a restrained and shy nose, light herbs and soy sauce but on the palate, it is brilliant. It has a acid-fruit balanced and lots of chewy tannins. This is a wine with flavours of liqourice, pencil lead and truffles. It finishes with a immensely long length which I could still taste 5 minutes later as I drove out of the Estate. A very connected wine that is best to lay down over the next 5-10 years. Maybe even longer.
Jasper Hill
I have been blessed to be even be give some face time with the winemaker, Ron Laughton, who is has his background in food science and is practitioner of Biodynamic Wines (no insecticides, herbicides, synthetic fungicides, artificial fertilisers) since 1998 although he says that he is not religious about it, only about the principles behind it. Coming from a food science background, he still questions many of the principles of Biodynamics which is why he only uses what he believes in and doesn't bother to get certification from any organisation. However, after talking to him, I do feel that if he really wanted certification, he would have no problems at all and he is no different from one who is certified.
The production is small. Only 2500 cases made and all the wines come from vineyards that are un-irrigated so there are no drippers. The vines are on its original rootstocks and are ungrafted to the American ones. One of his vineyards are planted with Hermitage clones from Chapoutier's vineyard. The vineyard is 25 ha and the first plantings were in 1975/76. This year is going to be its 29th Vintage. Both the famous Emily's paddock and Georgia's paddock have cambrian soils that are 500 million years old with a Basaltic bed rock. The soils are over 3 m deep with red iron and gravelly loam. Both vineyards are 329 m above sea level. The Emily has a NE aspect and is shallower while Georgia has NW facing slopes and deeper soils. There is little hoeing of the ground and lightweight 4WD tracters are used to minimise soil compaction.
The 2009 Cornella Vinyard Grenache 14.5% was an excellent wine and unlike the McLaren Vale style Grenache. Deep purple fading to light with a medium gradient, it has nice floral characters and a lifted rose water smell with light soy and spice. There was a complexity to it that is unlike other Grenache. On the Palate, it was juicy, bursting of lolli flavours but not overtly lolli with good natural acid.
I asked Ron if he adds any acid to his wines. He responded that he bought a bag of tartaric acid in 1982 and still has not used it. Everything is done by wild yeast and he conducts a 6 week post-maceration as he believes this produces better tannin structure to the wine. According to Ron, the first part of the fermentation is aerobic where the yeast cells need oxygen to grow but the last part of the ferment is anaerobic when it is in the tank. The long post-fermentation allows tannins in the skin and pips to polymerize better when in contact with the alcohol. He also racks according to the calender.
To Ron, minimal intervention is the buzzword and it is all about putting as little work into the winemaking as possible to get the maximum results. Ron uses stuff in the vineyard to keep his vines healthy like milk powder spray where he puts it on the leaves so that lactic bacteria sticks on the leave and grows on it. This prevents
other organisms from getting in and also causes natural MLF. He hasn't used copper on his vines for more than 15 years. Ron is convinced that 500 is highly concentrated in micro life forms and flora. The cow shit in horn transforms to sweet compost with high content of micro flora and organisms. It is kept in a dark spot where it is cool, dark and moist where micro organisms can thrive and then stirred with water at the right temperature so as not to shock the micro organisms and to infuse the water with oxygen that is conducive for soil health.
Speaking to Ron was enlightening. He explained to me the concept of a forest being closed system where the leaves fall and die, and are digested back into the soil and organisms are living in harmony with each other. However, his vineyard is not a closed system as wine is being produced from the land and is being sold. Terrior is lost. It is a closed system if the wine is being poured back into the soil. The terrior has the tendency to reflect the type of fertilisers used e.g those with potassium. The thing about BD is that it makes the organism at bed rock work to make more snails and give building blocks for flowers and colour. The soil is believed to be alive and the everything that comes from the soil is used to make the 500 and fed back into it. A vineyard with harmony and balance is more resistant to stress. When mosses and lichens are seen in the soil, it is a sign that the soil is becoming dead. Ron feels that weed killers are for lazy farmers and that so farmers destroy their soil health by using glycol to get rid of grass. To him, weeds are grass that you don't want and he usually has no problem with grass growing in his vineyard. He doesn't worry about birds as well as he thinks that birds are part of the vineyard ecology and many birds eating up grapes in the vineyard is a sign of a system that is not balanced.
In 1987, there was a bushfire and they had to cut the grass short to prevent the vineyards from getting burned. Occasionally, the alternate rows are being ploughed to aerate the soil. Other concepts like minimal cultivation (planting legumes) keep the place alive and healthy. The first vines were widely planted (12 by 6ft) as it is not irrigated and water stress is prevented. The soil can only offer so much and thus, the more vines per ha, the less yield per vine. When it comes to picking, Ron realises that in the last 2 years, the sugar are ahead of the flavours. However, he picks on ripe tannins and flavours, not on sugars.
We also tasted the 2009 Georgia's Paddock Shiraz 14%. It's appearance was deep purple and it had aromas of grape must, autumn leaves, earth, and rhubarb. An exquisite nose. On the palate, it had a wonderful tannin structure and cedary complexity. It was hard to describe it except that it really reflects the land.
Additional Notes: Jasper Hill uses really expensive corks, at $2 per piece that are 50 mm long and has been hand selected laboriously. Ron doesn't like the idea of screwcaps made of synthetic plastic being in contact with his wines.
Wild Duck Creek Estate
It was a pleasure to meet Liam Anderson, who is the running most of the winemaking these days for the last 6-7 years at Wild Duck Creek. He has got his wine science from Charles Stuart. Liam feels that he only benefited from 10% of his university and 90% from his Dad.
The boutique winery that is having quite a cult following makes 4000 cases a year and started producing wines in 1991, with the first vines being planted in 1988 and the oldest vineyard being planted in 1979. Little irrigation is used in the vineyard in summer and temperatures can go up to 40 degrees. Cropping yields are 2-4 tonnes/ha and the grapes are usually picked at 14.5015 baume. Most of the time, the grapes have a natural acid of 7.5 g/L and there is little acid added. The estate usually sprays 2 times a year and normal weather conditions are dry with low humidity and about 450 mm of rainfall during winter. To get rid of weeds, glyphosate or straw mulch machines are used. Plastic wrap is not used as it pollutes the ground and breaks up easily. The reason why the estate wants to get rid of weeds is that the land is dry enough, weeds tend to suck up a lot of moisture from the soil.
The vineyard does suffer from frost problems two out of every three years. Although this reduces yields, the small amount of berries produced from secondary buds are not commercially viable. The estate also uses spur pruning as they believe that there is consistent bud burst and the grapes ripen properly. For them, cane pruning produces an inconsistent number of fruit quantity, and ripens faster. The use cane pruning for their merlot. Liam feels that less buds and more leaves on the vine is best for it. Too many buds on the vine and the leaves will falls off and vines will be stressed so the vines can't cope. To Liam, the size of the arm in cane or spur doesn't make a difference but it is the nutrient cycle in the soil that are relevant two weeks into bud burst and the rate of photosynthesis. They do not use artificial nutrients but cloves (which provides nitrogen) and oats (fibrous material and good for earthworm population.)
Unknown to a lot of people, Liam feels that viognier makes a terrific varietal to grow in Heathcote. The climate and the cambrian soil helps the ripening. Chardonnay is not really produced here as it ripens too fast. The best wines are produced on heavy clay and to Liam, there is a misnomer that great wines is produced based solely on the soil structure alone. Better tannin and aromatics come fro soils with heavy clay and are spicier compared to 20 km north and grapes ripens 3 weeks later down south for Shiraz. Grapes on the East or North aspect can ripen better than those in the West and those facing South can't ripen well. There isn't much difference with row-planting direction but E-W suffers from less sun burn than N-S. With a N-W row direction, there is more even ripening.
The estate uses 100% french oak and some US oak. The toast used is medium, long and heavy toast. The fruit is very concentrate and is needs spicy expressions of oak. The fruit in Heathcote can take a lot of new oak. It takes 2-3 years for the oak to integrate into the wine and another 12 months in the bottle. The grapes are usually treated with cold soak for 1 week. Extended fermentation is risky to them as colour can be lost and skins absorb the colour or can polymerize with the tannins. Whole berry ferments are usually done one week on skins instead of whole bunch ferments as it would impart a woody character. In the Yarra, it is different as it is a higher rainfall and the stalks a less woody and thick.
Red Edge
Peter Dredge runs Red Edge wines (notice the play of words on his last name). He owns 14 ha of land under vines and grows many different grapes on his land such as riesling, mourvèdre and even graciano. Peter uses cane pruning for his shiraz vines as he believes that it produces less fruit, and thus makes the quality better. According to him, in Feb 2008, temperatures can go over 35 degrees for over 7 days. When asked about the vintages in Heathcote, he mentions that in 2006 it was warm, 2007 there was a drought, 2008 was hot, 2009and 2010 were good years.
Below are some tasting notes of his wines which I find are fairly priced
Degree 2007 Heathcote Shiraz 14.8% $25
Young vines and only 500 cases made. A very interesting wine as it has 3% Riesling and 7% Mouvedre. It is deep black and has a cedary, blackberry aroma with liqourice. The palate is full and has flavours of cloves with a long length and light smoky characters. A dense wine that will go will most red meats.
Red Edge Shiraz 2007 15% $45
25% whole bunch. Wild yeast and spent 3 weeks on skins after ferment. 12 months on 80% new troncais oak. Again deep black in appearance with aromas of pepper, black tea and chocolate. Lots of flavour on the palate with rounded but not astringent tannins, coffee and liqourice impression.
Tempranillo with 5% Monastrell 2007 14.5% $28
Deep black with aromas of meat, roast peppercorn and blackberry. Savoury and meaty, it accompanied with flavours of olives and dark herbs, cinnamon and showing beautifully with chalky tannins and a long length A huge fav.
Munari Wines*
Adrian and Deborah Munari are people that you should definitely talk to if you want an informative session about the history and topology of the region. They have been around Heathcote for around 20 years and know the region very well. I will do a better write-up about their wines in my blog. They make about 3000 cases a year and do some contract winemakeing as well. Their flagship wine is the Ladys Pass Shiraz. The wine has seen only Frenh oak and has 1-2 weeks of extended maceration. They only crop 2-3 tonnes/acre which is very small for Shiraz vines. If you really want to understand more about the wines produced in this region, taste their wines and they will be happy to talk you through the vineyard. The experience is only much better understood unless you are there.
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