Traditional Grampians Wines
Many decades ago I drank “Mateus Rose” as well as “Seppelt Spritzig Rose”, before I was even interested in wine. It was something my girlfriend at the time liked to buy; both bottles were circular and alluring, the wine was OK I think, well it suited a naive 20yr old who didn’t like beer.
In 2017 a young friend convinced me to make a Rosé in a White wine style and I found salvation! This ensured the fresh characters of the fruit before it became overripe and plummy, to be just strawberries and raspberries, with structure and no sweetness to hide behind.
I selected Sangiovese as a variety because it has good acidity at 12% potential in the grapes and is lower in colour than most Shiraz. Expressing the fruit characters is easy but making the structure right, is by feel. When processing the grapes, I used about 86% of the juice before it became too broad and short. This reduces my profitability, but it makes a better wine for all to share.
As the wine has aged over the last 12 months I am still fascinated that the wine has elegance and has grown a little, for the better. It is still fresh and will last for a couple more years, especially now that it is under screwcap!
For 2019 I am holding back some 2018 white wine pressings and will barrel aged them to reduce the furriness and will add this to the ferment at around 7%. This will add body and structure plus a little sweet mid palate. It is style I hope to make quite a thing for Clarnette & Ludvigsen in the future and using more Red Varieties as they come around. We have some young plantings of Tempranillo and Grenache to be added when they come on stream.
Last year in looking into research for Rose I went to many stores and listened to what was hip. Ten Rose’s were purchased and drunk and it was most interesting that Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro were predominant from south of France. This says to me we can do anything here, but keeping that freshness is the key.
Today my biggest fans of this Rose are Karen and Donna, my partners in the business, and their friends, without them the business wouldn’t exist!