Australian Natural wine movement.

Domaine Lucci
Anton Van Klopper is the man behind this amazing pinot noir from Australia, it is one of the most creative wine makers in the Australian wine industry. Very quickly became one of the leader of the fashion wine natural movement of this amazing country. In 2002 with his family purchased a property in  Adelaide hills adopting biodynamically principle using only sulphur at the bottling. He extensively worked in other country Germany, New Zealand and Oregon especially at domaine Serene in U.S.A. where he understood the importance of the terroir driving. On his website  "A Winemakers must have an intimate knowledge of every part of the vineyard"

Pale in color great viscosity full of sour red fruit on the nose, intense freshness drive by lovely acidity. Spice ginger and forest floor, damp earth and great finesse in the middle palate.
A really great wine
Also I had an orange wine made by him from Sauvignon blanc with an extensively contact skin more than a great wine an interesting one


Orange in color, with sexy texture. Lightly oxidation with sherry quality notes, fresh sea air and mineral. Bruised white peach and cordial elderflower, soaked grass with brandy nuttiness a fun drink, medium plus tannin….


                                                                  William Downie
                                                   A winemaker with a pinot noir heart

 One of the guy for me represented the natural wine making in Australia is William Downie a young winemaker located in Yarra Valley in the state of Victoria near Melbourne.
He has been working for a several year in Burgundy and in 2004 through 2005 was senior winemaker a Domaine Hubert Lignier  in Morey saint Denis, after that was assistant winemaker at the famous winery in Yarra Valley De Bortoli. In 2003 started to make his own wines from pinot noir grapes sorted in different part of the state of Victoria:
From Gipsland an earthy pinot without sulphur on 20 years old vines dry grown, whole bunch fermentation with a pleasant perception of volatile. The problem of this wine doesn't last long after open the bottle but an interesting project.
From Mornighton Penisula a bright crispy Chambolle Musigny style with sour fruit and great acid structure and sea salt palate.
From Yarra Valley a sturdy pinot with a super texture without fat, silky with plenty of fine grain tannin but not too blocky. Red berry aroma.
Last project of this guy is a winery called Thousand Candels with more people involved in the actual business. The first vintage is a Syrah predominately with some pinot noir and Sauvingon blanc in the blend; whole bunch and carbonic maceration light body syrah very original with a strong hint of anise.
Some shots in the vineyard below:
                                                     
Mac Forbes Yarra Valley Victoria
Forbes is an other interesting pinot noir grower from the Yarra valley with the sensibility from the Lieu-dit, his making pinot noir in this region like Benjamin Leroux in Cote de Beaune. His approach on wine making is just respecting the grapes and carry out to the bottle a very simple approach with a great effect:
The 2011 pinot is extremely original mostly Morgon cote de puy if that make sense.



Comments

Post a Comment

A drinker

Chablis Climats and Lieux-dit

Image
Climat: from the Greek Klima via the Latin Cliamtis.  Precisely delimited plots of land which benefit from specific geological and climate conditions...  Lieux-dits a designated area of land with a historical particularity from a topographical point of view of an ancient story... These two terms in wine always as an interchange used; however, you can find several Lieux-dits within a single Climat... Chablis is a really good example of how these two concepts work together.   See the map above and you can see how many Lieux-Dit compose a climat, in this case, 1er Cru. For example Montmains 1er Cru, a famous block of vineyard on the left bank of the Serein river at the bottom holds two famous Lieux-dit called Forets and Butteaux; according to the INAO, this can be a label on his own or as Montmains 1er Cru.  Vaillons 1er Cru got several different names, those are: Sechet, Les Lys, Les Epinottes, Ronciers, Mellinots, Beugnons and Chatains....
Podcast

Brunello based on a map….

Image
Brunello di Montalcino is one of the most famous and prestigious italian wine. All Brunello di Montalcino wine is made exclusive from Sangiovese grapes grown on the slopes around Montalcino a classic Tuscan hilltop village 30 km south of Siena. The world Brunello translates roughly as "Little dark one", and is the local vernacular name for Sangiovese grosso, the large-berries form of Sangiovese which grows in the area. The climate in the production zone is Mediterranean. On the lower slopes the soil is clayey marl, higher up a combination of limestone and marl with some tufaceous volcanic stone. The best soil are "galestro albarese" clay with carbonate of lime and friable rock. The harvest go between the latter part of September and the middle of October. Subdistrict of the Brunello zone Brunello production zone can be divided into three district. The first district takes in the area north and to the east of the town of Montalcino, including the town of Tor...
Podcast

Cahors Simon Busser - Corbières Maziere Fabrice Monnin

Image
SIMON BUSSER from the village in Prayssac, in the AOC Cahors: Cahors is a small town in southwestern France, located 160km to the east of Bordeaux. The climate here is subject to multiple influences; from the Atlantic coast which bring a continental climate, and the Mediterranean from the south which gives a maritime influence. We can divide the AOC into two different terroirs the "Causses" based limestone plateau that produces more tannic, mineral lived wines. The other vineyards profile is the one that influenced by the river Lot with a more gravelly slope which makes more approachable wines on the fruity spectrum profile.  Cahors is home of Malbec, Bordeaux grapes mainly Merlot, and also a small amount of Tannat more present in the neighborhood Madiran AOC.  Simon Busser has been training with Olivier Cousin in the Loire. He returns to his village Prayssac and start to looking after his father’s vineyards. He works his small vineyard with a horse, as Cousin taugh...
Podcast