Australia
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2018 Pinot Noir "Innocent Bystander", Yarra Valley
IB102B18
Taste Notes:
100% Pinot Noir. This Pinot Noir has beautiful fruit which shines through its velvety mouthfeel and soft, savoury tannins. Only large, old oak barriques are used to age the wine, keeping the fruit character to the fore. This Pinot Noir has aromas of boysenberries, cherry and cranberry with earthy notes of dried spices. On the palate, this wine has a velvety mouthfeel with soft savoury tannins which make a lovely finish.
Vineyard:
This wine is produced from a number of vineyards that span the Yarra Valley from Paul's Range at Dixons Creek in the north across to Bastard Hill in the very cool southern Upper Yarra. The vineyards were chosen in particular for their high diurnal temperature range, resulting in wines with high natural acidity and low pH. Yields are less than seven tonnes per hectare.
Vinification:
All grapes were hand picked and destemmed, with 10% kept as whole bunches. The must was cold soaked for four days before fermentation took place in stainless steel open fermenters with daily hand plunging. The wine was matured in a combination of French oak (10% new) and stainless steel tanks for nine months.
Producer:
This winery changed hands in May 2016, with one family company, Brown Brothers, taking it off the hands of another, its founder, Phil Sexton. So associated is Innocent Bystander with the Yarra Valley that the new owners made the intelligent decision to build a new winery in Healesville, just across the parking lot from Giant Steps. They quickly signed contracts with all the grape growers that Phil used for Innocent Bystander, so that the style of the wines remains unchanged. This regional and varietal style, reflecting the soil, climate and topography of the cool climate in the Yarra Valley is the base upon which the reputation of Innocent Bystander has been built.
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Dandelion `Lionheart of Barossa` Shiraz
DA101A17
This wine is intense crimson in colour, with a youthful purple hue. On the nose, it has lifted aromas of ripe blackberries, blueberries, spicy pepper notes and Christmas pudding-like spices. Generous, mouth-filling sweet blackberries, raspberries and plums are pronounced on the palate, with sweet spice. It has firm, but fine, tannins and dark chocolate nuances continue onto the lengthy palate.
100% Syrah/Shiraz
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Mitolo 'Serpico' Cabernet Sauvignon
On the nose, there are intense aromas of rich blackberry and ripe plum complemented by notes of dark chocolate, vanilla and figs. It is a full-bodied wine with mouth-coating, fine grained tannins leading to a long, savoury finish.
Fruit for the Serpico wine comes from the Lopresti vineyard, and more specifically the Chinese Block, which is located at the southern end of McLaren Vale close to the coastal town of Port Willunga. The Cabernet Sauvignon in this vineyard is planted on black Biscay clay which along with the ideal Mediterranean climate produces wines of concentrated varietal character.
Mitolo is a family owned winery established in 1999 by Frank Mitolo. Mitolo's vision is to create individual, handcrafted premium wines built on passion and an uncompromising commitment to quality. Winemaker Ben Glaetzer became a partner in the business in 2001. The fusion of Frank's intimate knowledge of the land and business acumen with Ben's winemaking talent has led to the creation of one of Australia's most exciting wineries.
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Peter Lehmann, Mentor, Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon
The 2014 Mentor is a rich, deep garnet coloured wine that exhibits a bouquet of violet and cassis and a touch of vanilla. The palate shows all the hallmarks of great Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon with blackcurrant notes and firm tannins, finishing with great length.
Peter Lehmann mentored countless people over his 50-year career, and this wine is named in his honour. Fruit was selected from premium vineyards from a number of Barossa sub-regions including Stonewell, Tanunda, and Light Pass. These vineyards are all planted with old vines which yield a very low amount of fruit.
Peter Lehmann, with 33 vintages already under his belt, started his own winery in 1979, partly as a means of helping with the glut of grapes then afflicting the Barossa. "I'll take your grapes and turn them into wine," he told the desperate growers, many of them conservative farmers of Silesian descent who regarded their old vines as part of their patrimony. "But I'll only be able to pay you when I sell the wine." They gratefully accepted. Without this deal, it is widely thought that the Barossa would have lost a huge chunk of its old vines. The 'Masters' wines are made from the parcels regarded by the winemakers as the best Semillon, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz of the vintage.
