Lithostylis 2013 Pinot Rosé, South Gippsland

“Strawberry, vanilla and dried herbs. Some musky/floral characters. Palate of blood-orange with fresh acidity, but also an up-front richness. Lovely mouth-filling texture with no shortage of flavour. Looks its best when not over-chilled.”

A flavoursome rosé which is not limited to summer drinking. Fermented warmer than usual to extract maximum flavour and colour. We recommend serving at around 12 degrees rather than totally chilled. This wine is definitely up to the task of a summer BBQ, but sits equally well with asian foods and platters/entrées. Drink all year round!

Lithostylis 2010 Ironstone Pinot Noir, South Gippsland

“A sweet-fruited nose of strawberries, violets and dried herbs gives way to a spicey palate, with background notes of raspberry, mandarin and coffee. The palate shows mouth-watering acidity and a lingering savoury finish. A light and balanced Pinot Noir, with fine supporting tannins and a generous texture.”

The Ironstone Soil (aka Ferrosol, aka Krasnozem, aka The Red Dirt, aka Spud Mud)

This is the first of our Pinot Noir’s to be labelled by it’s soil type, in an effort to draw attention to the causal link between soil-type and wine style/structure. The Pinot Noir + Ironstone interaction is a proven combination, finding favour not just in South Gippsland, but in West Gippsland, Northern Tasmania, parts of the Yarra Valley and Oregon (Jory Loams). So what’s so special about Ironstone soils? Put simply, they are: Friable, Free-Draining, Warm, Hold Water Tightly and are inherently Fertile. The fertility of the soil being the only quality which might be considered negative. We make up for this with sore knees (from de-suckering), sore backs (from shoot-thinning, leaf-plucking and fruit-thinning) and sore arms (from hedging)! These soils offer a buffer against extremes of dryness and wetness and are generally beautiful to behold! Pinot Noir wines grown on the Ironstone soils of South Gippsland tend to display high natural acidity, fine tannins with floral and red-berry dominant aromas. The Ironstone soil offers a certain level of consistency in the face of varying seasonal conditions…..provided the vigneron isn’t lazy!

The 2009-2010 Growing Season

Whilst the 2010 growing season could be described as climatically ‘average’, we feel that this Pinot Noir is anything but! In a climatic sense, an average season in South Gippsland is a potentially excellent one – a wet and cool-warm spring, followed by a warm and moist summer with no extremes of heat and topped off with a cool autumn start for the final stages of ripening. The only confounding factor is the potentially ill-timed rain events towards the end of harvest. In 2010, we ran the gauntlet of harvesting before and then between rain events to preserve the fine tannins, high natural acidity and delicate fragrance of the season. Both our initial edginess (to get fruit off before the rain) and our later enforced patience (to let the remaining fruit recover after the rain) were equally important. The result is a fine and lighter-bodied style of Pinot Noir with red-berry dominant fruit characters (strawberry, raspberry, red currant) and a generous yet finely structured palate.

The Winemakers Influence

Harvest began on the 3rd of March, with G-clone fruit harvested at 12.5°Bé. The final parcel of D-clone fruit was harvested one month later at 13.5°Bé. Fruit was 100% destemmed except for one small parcel of MV6, selected for its riper stems to be used in a partial whole-bunch ferment. This equates to a 5% whole-bunch addition overall. Ferments were initially chilled and then left to reach an ambient peak of around 32°C, fermented by ambient yeasts. Pigeage by hand 2 times per day. Pressing occurred on average 7 days after dryness. Some ferments were then drained to oak to finish fermentation (~last 0.5°Bé). This has lent a smokey/meaty edge to the wine, enhancing it’s savoury appeal. Maturation in 35% new tight-grained oak has added spiciness and enhanced the natural tannin structure of the wine. Spontaneous malolactic fermentation followed in barrel in late autumn. Racked by gravity, except for final blending 2 months before bottling on the 4th May 2011. Finished wine pH 3.56, TA 6.5 g/L, 13.4%alc.

The Wine

Leading with quite a sweet-fruited and fragrant nose, this wine has an overall savoury palate, made interesting by spicy oak, earthiness and whole-bunch complexity. In it’s youth, it will benefit from some aeration prior to service, and will normally look it’s best on day two (assuming it makes it that far!). We recommend serving the wine at slightly below room temperature (cold but not chilled). It makes a fine partner to japanese or chinese cuisines. It should start showing it’s best from around one year after bottling, May 2012, and should develop well for 5+ years. Bottled under screwcap to preserve freshness.

Lithostylis 2010 Chardonnay-Viognier, South Gippsland

“Strong aromas of apricot, toast, almonds, grapefruit and white flowers. The palate is rich, with strong, lingering stone fruit flavours and some savoury phenolics to provide structure. The co-fermentation of Chardonnay with Viognier has elevated the aromatics and richness of the palate, whilst still retaining the finesse and citrus backbone of a straight Chardonnay. It is a wine which is not for the faint-hearted, packed full of flavour, structure and aroma. Demands food.”

The Fruit Sources

Fruit for this wine was sourced from three sites in the Leongatha sub-region. In Berry’s Creek, north of Leongatha we sourced 40% of the fruit (Chardonnay) from Utingi (Berry’s Creek Vineyard). This Ironstone site always displays fine acidity and citrus flavours which often have a rich tropical edge. From Clare de Lune Vineyard, east of Korumburra, we sourced 20% (Chardonnay) which displayed a strong melon/stonefruit flavour profile. From our estate vineyard ‘The Red Dwarf’, we sourced the remaining 25% Chardonnay and 15% Viognier. On this site, the Chardonnay shows pear flavours and the Viognier stone-fruit and flowers.

The Winemakers Influence

The fruit was whole-bunch pressed and co-fermented in a combination of stainless steel (cool temperature) and oak (ambient temperature). A combination of cultured and uncultured (uncouth!) yeasts were utilised. Some light lees stirring was conducted after fermentation and wine was left on lees for an extended period for textural improvement. Maturation in 20% new tight-grained oak has lent a spiciness and the additional phenolics have helped balance the naturally rich palate. Malolactic fermentation was prevented to retain acidity. Finished wine pH 3.34, TA 5.5 g/L, 13.6%alc.

The Wine

A combination of developed ripeness and the inherent richness of Viognier has produced an unctuous and flavoursome wine, where richness is balanced with phenolic structure rather than added acidity. The whole-bunch pressing has retained finesse, and the prevention of malolactic fermentation has prevented the wine from being so top-heavy that it can’t support itself. The aromatics have been enhanced by the inclusion of Viognier coupled with some cool fermentation with aromatic yeasts. Funky battery acid it ain’t!

The phenolic structure and richness of the palate makes the wine excellently suited to pairing with Indian or Thai food, though it complements pizza and oil-based pasta excellently as well (Try Fettucini with Roast Pumpkin, Fetta, Chorizo and Basil!). Any foods with an inherent sweetness will work well. Serve well-chilled.

Lithostylis 2007 Leongatha Chardonnay

“Nose redolent of lemon zest, honeydew melon and orange blossom. Palate is lithe and linear, citrus dominant and displays lingering flavours of almond meal and pear. Finish is long and savoury, with a minerality characteristic of Leongatha’s iron-rich volcanic soil.”

Limited Production of 50 Cases

The 2006-07 season was unseasonably dry and quite warm, especially during ripening. The early season dryness encouraged frosts (ouch!), which reduced our crop significantly. We supplemented our own fruit with some purchased from another fine local vineyard. The 2007 Chardonnay goes crackingly well with hard cheeses, fish or poultry. It’s high natural acidity cuts through rich foods, and complements any dish based on lemon juice and oil particularly well. At the risk of sounding uncouth, we can heartily recommend it as an accompaniment to fish and chips! Serve cool, not cold.