94 points - "Red cherry, strawberry, quite a lot of peppery spice, red capsicum, some mint and amaro quality. It’s light to medium-bodied, frisky and fresh, kind of sappy too, but it pops with energy, all that ripe strawberry and spice, a lick of dusty graphite tannin, with a juicy blood orange and fennel-laced finish of excellent length. So vital and refreshing. It’s different, but so very good to drink. And plus one point for that!" - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

VINEYARD REGION
Gordon Hills + Borrodell Vineyards, Orange

VINEYARD ALTITUDE
850 - 1030m above sea level

WINE ANALYSIS
Alc/Vol: 13.5% pH: 3.77 TA: 5.46g/L RS: 0.31g/L Yeast: Wild

WINEMAKER
Simon Gilbert and Will Gilbert

VINEYARD CONDITIONS

Sourced from the foothills of Mt Canobolas, at an altitude of 970 – 1015 metres, these vineyards have extremely fertile soil, rich in volcanic ash. It is deep well drained clay loam, and red and brown ferrosol soils derived from basalt, with silty textures being found at hill top sites. One of Australia’s cooler climate regions, Orange has a mean January temperature of 19.5°C with a 15°C variance between Summer and Winter months, and an average rainfall of approximately 875mm per annum. . With Orange being the highest wine growing region in Australia, grapes grown here not only enjoy all the benefits of its cooler temperatures and unique topography, but also benefit from over 9 hours per day of direct sunshine during the growing season. The
combination of both the cooler climate and plentiful sunshine is vital to the fruit's ability to develop intense aromas and maintain flavour, giving these grapes a long mouth feel and flavour profile.

WINEMAKERS NOTES

Sourced from the Gordon Hills and Borrodell Vineyards in Orange, the fruit was handpicked and hand sorted at harvest. The grapes were harvested in small lots in the early morning, taking advantage of the cool morning temperatures . The fruit, a combination of clones, was separated into many vessels based on picking dates. 30% carbonic maceration and 70% whole berry.
The carbonic maceration component spent 7 days in a sealed up vessel where fermentation commenced enzymatically inside the berry itself. This ferment was then turned into a whole cluster ferment where we foot crushed the fruit increased extraction whilst allowing for the remaining sugars to be fermented by wild yeast. This component spent 35 days on skins.
The whole berry component was cold soaked for 3 days and gently pumped over. Once fermentation commenced, the fermenting juice was pumped over twice daily through a screen in open fermentation, for long slow gentle extraction. Temperatures were allowed to spike at 28°C, and then slowly dropped back to 24°C for the duration of the ferment. These component spent 28 -35 days on skins. All parcels were separately basket pressed at their ideal structure and tannin balance and delivered straight into 100% French oak of which 15% new and the remainder older oak. All malolactic fermentation was completed in barrel, after which it was then matured on full lees. This wine was blended in October where it was then held in stainless steel on light lees for 2 months and then bottled unfined.