Trophy: Champion Sparkling Wine of the Show + Gold Medal
National Cool Climate Wine Show 2017
Served at Strangers’ Restaurant, NSW Parliament House Dining Room
(Strangers’ Restaurant – NSW Finalist, Gourmet Traveller Wine List of the Year 2020)
“This wine spent around four years on lees, and the disgorgement was in April 2015. The breakdown is 70% chardonny and 30% pinot noir. The cold, Orange wine region, Bantry Grove vineyard was the fruit source. Sweetish perfume of stone fruits, crème caramel, pretty floral notes. It’s nice to sniff on. Big foamy bead, shows some more yeasty, bready complexity than expected but the take home message is the blisteringly fresh acidity that props the wine up and gives it its incredibly refreshing feel. Fine detail and a touch of oyster shell minerality through this wine too. Lovely stuff. Delicate and frisky.”
Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, June 2015
The runner-up sparkling wines of the year under $50
65% chardonnay, 35% pinot noir; bottled July 2011; aged 62 months on lees; disgorged September 2016; 4.5g/L dosage.
“An additional year of cork age has served to emphasise the subtle almond meal complexity of this zesty, cool vintage style. Its hue has evolved to a medium straw, while upholding its crunchy lemon zest, red apple and grapefruit character. The focused acidity of the season remains prominent, while its fine phenolic structure has been heightened by cork age, producing a textural style of grip and tension.”
Tyson Stelzer, Tyson Stelzer’s Australian Sparkling Wine Report 2018
“(…). Focused acidity and gentle, fine phenolic structure…”
“Upholding a wonderfully pale straw hue and precision, definition and purity of lemon zest, red apple and grapefruit. Focused acidity and gentle, fine phenolic structure unite to produce a textural style of grip and tension. Bottle age has brought subtle almond meal complexity and fine, silky mouthfeel, finishing with well-focused acidity and intricately integrated dosage.”
Tyson Stelzer, WBM, March/April 2017 + James Halliday’s Wine Companion 2018
