Description
WINE REGION: Nagambie Lakes
FRUIT SOURCE: Tahbilk Estate
GRAPE VARIETY: Grenache 65% Mourvèdre 35%
MATURATION: Stainless Steel
VINTAGE 2022:
The only thing that you can guarantee about the harvest season every year is that there are no guarantees. The season started off slowly, summer was cool and the rainfall was low in the lead up, so the expectation was for a cracking season … mother nature had other plans! A windy spring disrupted the fruit set leading to fewer berries per bunch resulting in yields being well down … as much as 40% with some blocks. Initially we were lulled into thinking that all was going along smoothly. We ticked along at a steady pace, whites progressed nicely, the reds ripening well and then… wham, everything ripened at once and the usual vintage chaos was back. There are always two clear weeks in the winery that will either make you or break you. The first is the white/rosé/red juggle and the second is the red pressa-thon. This is when we empty the fermenters, and pretty much fill them straight back up. It is about finding the balance between the initial cold soak, fermentation time and rate, time on skins post fermentation and then bringing in the next parcel of fruit. And just to make it even more fun, this changes every year. With the low yields and challenges of this harvest there is much anticipation around the final release of our 2022 vintage Estate whites and reds.
ABOUT THE WINE:
Established in 1860, Tahbilk is located in the premium central Victorian viticultural region of Nagambie Lakes. Purchased by Reginald Purbrick in 1925, five generations of the Purbrick family have been actively involved in Tahbilk bringing a tradition of pride, hard work and a love of good wine to their unique heritage of being the oldest family owned winery and vineyard in Victoria. Drawing on Estate plantings of Grenache and Mourvedre the fruit is picked early to retain freshness and delicacy, with the grapes crushed and pressed with as little oxygen contact as possible to preserve the fresh fruit characters. A technique favoured in Provence is then used to increase texture and mouthfeel, by mixing the cold juice (including the pulp and solids) with nitrogen gas briefly each day over four days. The wine is then racked to produce clear juice and fermented with a specific Rosé yeast at 10/14 degrees for 2 weeks prior to being filtered and bottled.
TASTING NOTE:
“A fusion of Estate Grenache and Mourvèdre has delivered a Rosé that sings with notes of cherry, musk and raspberry Grenache fruits, the Mourvèdre contributing a structural fleshiness and savoury nuances. Refreshing grape acidity finishes a dry and textural release best enjoyed when young and fresh.”
