A 'round up' of our new vintage
Finally! The wait is over, With the footy season coming to an end and the prospect of yet another vintage with Budburst, it might be time to take a collective breath and meet the vintage you deserve!
After a difficult vintage, we are pleased to say that we have managed to get some lovely white wines into bottle as well as our perennial favourite, the Cabernet -based rosé. At the moment, the 2022 reds are quietly settling, clarifying themselves under gravity, after being racked off primary lees. It’s also a time for waking last years red wines from their oaky slumber and assembling or blending them for their bottling and spring release.
The cooler conditions mean our reliable whites like Verdelho and Semillon express good varietal definition, with great aromas and both being flavour packed. The current vintage Chardonnay continues in the Iron Gate style of clean peach/stonefruit characters backed by balanced barrel ferment oak characters and a rich palate.
The 22 SSV (Sweet Semillon Verdelho) is one of the best we have made for this style, with citrus and ripe tropical characters and a beautifully balanced palate of fruit sweetness and sherbet-like acid. Very more-ish!
Keep an eye out for our new release named “Portero”. This means “Gatekeeper” in Spanish and is a delicious blend of Chardonnay and Semillon. Some of this exciting blend has been barrel fermented in American oak 500 L puncheons and adds a vanilla-coconut note to the wine. The remainder of the blend is comprised of unoaked Chardonnay (think peach) and Semillon (think citrus and passionfruit). This is definitely a nod to the past when blended white wines were all the rage, and house-style was as important as grape variety.
I mentioned earlier that the 21 reds have come out of oak, and we are excited to have these coming onto our tasting list for you to try. We have recently released two Reserve red wines, a Hunter Valley Shiraz and a Hilltops Cabernet. Now, those of you who know our wines know that we keep the best barrels for our 1500 L Fénix blend, no questions asked. We found ourselves with a multitude of riches in that, after much discussion, the Fénix barrels were decided upon and what remained were some lovely red wines that could stand quite easily on their own, despite being in limited quantities. It’s been a few years since the 2019 Reserve Shiraz release, and we feel that both these new wines will receive the same favourable reception as that lovely wine. The Fénix components have gone back into their barrels after racking and will be bottled as the final blend in mid-October, waiting for the Fénix launch night in March next year. The Hunter Shiraz is more in the traditional savoury style with plum, cherry and pepper characters and a complex and rich, flavoursome palate. The Hilltops Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon has lovely varietal aromas of raspberry and redcurrant and a soft, plum and cherry palate. Both are wines we hope you will enjoy.
Our next Member’s pack is due for release in October, so there is a good time to order some of these wines if they have piqued your interest.
In the meantime, the vines move inexorably into a new vintage, and budburst will soon become flowering, then bunch closure, veraison and finally harvest in the first few months of 2023.
We can’t wait
