Yarra Station Vineyard – Yarra Glen - Lower  Yarra – 75%

Sourced from the Yarra Station vineyard of the lower Yarra Valley. These vines sit on a very steep south facing slope of granite and grey clay soils that have ironstone running throughout.

Napoleone Vineyard –  Coldstream – Lower Yarra – 17%

From a slightly north facing slope of light brown, duplex clay loams in the Lower Yarra Valley.

Gunnabee Vineyard – The Patch – Upper Yarra – 8%

A beautiful north-east facing slope of dark brown and red, volcanic soils in the Upper Yarra Valley.

Vintage

The 2021 growing season and harvest were a complete turnaround from the hardships of 2020.

It wasn’t without worries, as the return of the La Nina weather pattern brought back thoughts of 2011 and led to a wetter than average year. Thankfully, the rains were perfectly and evenly timed.

The mild season avoided major heat spikes and produced healthy canopies and strong vines that ripened plentiful fruit.

An exceptional vintage.

Winemaking Stats

Picking Date – 27th of February to 12th of March 2021          

Handpicked early in the morning and transported directly to cool rooms.

After a night of chilling we whole bunch pressed the Yarra Station and Napoleone fruit with no pressings cut so that we could maximise the texture and crunchy phenolic inherent in the skins

A slow natural ferment progressed as the juice warmed up in old 500L oak puncheons.

The ferment peaked at 23 deg C and lasted for a duration of around 21 days.

The Gunnabee vineyard (8%) was fermented as whole bunches. Stomped twice over 12 days the grapes were then pressed into old hogsheads for maturation.

100% malolactic fermentation progressed in all barrels.

After a couple of stirs and a few months the barrels were brought together in tank for another 2 months of ageing at cool temperatures.

No fining or filtration and a small amount of sulphur before bottling.

Bottling Date – 12th July 2021         

pH - 3.43         TA – 6.4 g/L    Alc - 12.0%     RS < 2 g/L