Cabernet Sauvignon Riserva Magnum

72% Viognier 28% Marsanne

13.3% Alc.

Production: 2347 bottles

This wine is inspired by the white wine blends of the Rhone Valley in France. Originating in Switzerland, the Rhone river flows west towards Lyon before  turning south down the Rhone Valley to the Mediterranean coast. The strong, cool wind known as the Mistral blows down the Rhone Valley from the Alps and has a profound impact upon all of the agriculture in  the valley, viticulture being no exception. This Mistral wind is the inspiration for the name of the wine.

 Perhaps the most famous of the Rhone white varieties is Viognier (pron. Vio-n-yay). The bronze tinted, thick skinned, hardy white grapes typically produce a medium weight, dry wine with characteristic bright floral and apricot notes. This is often blended with either or both of Marsanne and Roussane, to produce a vibrant, complex, floral wine, capable of being enjoyed in its youth as well as to be cellared and enjoyed with several years of bottle evolution.

 The Vineyards:

The Viognier for the 2017 Mistral was sourced from two separate vineyards. The first is located in the Walcliffe sub-region of Margaret River, with a northerly exposure and around 4km from the Indian Ocean on the banks of the Margaret River itself. Sitting high on this hillside, the vines grow in gravelly, well drained soil and experience fantastic exposure to the warm summer sunshine and regular, cooling sea breezes.

 The other portion of Viognier is grown in on the border of the Yallingup and Wilyabrup sub-regions, more in the north of the Margaret River wine region. This warm, exposed vineyard produces grapes wonderful flavour development in the Viognier which thrives on this harsher site.

 The Marsanne portion of the blend is grown at one of the most southerly vineyards in the Margaret River region located in the Karridale sub-region, some 4.5km West of the Indian Ocean and 6km North of the Southern Ocean.

 The Season:

The 2019/20 growing season was characterised as being quite a warm one in respect to our typical mild Mediterranean seasons. Spring brought with it the typical mix of stunning days interspersed by a couple of significant storm events which thankfully did not impact upon Viognier flowering and consequent crop levels, but did drastically reduce the Marsanne crops form the southerly site.

 Following on from a marginally warmer than usual spring, Summer arrived rapidly and we had several runs of significantly warmer than average temperatures which lead to an overall seasonal pattern of higher than average day time and night time temperatures – December in particular averaged 3 degrees warmer than average for day time maximum temperatures!

 Another key factor in our growing season weather was very low to no rainfall throughout the summer.

 These growing conditions were highly favourable for the Viognier and Marsanne grapes for our 2020 Mistral blend. Healthy grapes which had a good soaking in the warm sunny days of summer has lead to incredible development of aromatics as well as the awesome textural components which are a real feature of this wine style.

 Winemaking:

All of the grapes for this wine were handpicked into small 8kg crates and immediately transported back to the winery where the whole bunches of grapes were placed gently into an old-school basket press to extract the juice. Whole-bunch basket pressing is the most gentle way to extract the juice from the fruit and is a process common to the world’s highest quality white wines. No additions, subtractions, fining or filtration of any sort was conducted on the juice.

 From the press the juice was run directly into 3 year old French oak barriques for fermentation. The wine was fermented utilising the indigenous yeast which came in on the grape bunches from the vineyard. The wine fermented to absolute dryness and was left in contact with its lees for 2 months.

 The 2020 Mistral spent 9 months in barrel before being racked via gravity to tank pre-bottling. This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered and displays the possibility of producing elegant, pure, bright and clear wines, in this very natural way.

The Wine:

The 2020 Mistral tells such a strong tale of the 202 season and is perhaps the finest iteration of this classic wine style which I have yet made! With intense floral, spice  and apricot fruit notes on the nose providing a detailed representation of the hot summer weather conditions which the fruit ripened in. The wine also displays wonderful savoury, almondy nutty notes, again reflective of the hotter growing season and such a reflection of this classic wine style. The wine is medium weight with a fresh natural acidity which provides the perfect backbone to the soft, broad mouth feel, rich apricot, light honey and exotic spice notes. This is an incredibly textural wine with high complexity but no heaviness or clunky-ness. It is drinking wonderfully right now but will definitely continue to develop well and age for another 6-10 years.

Salutè

Robert Gherardi

The Vineyards:

Two diverse and  select parcels of Gin Gin clone Chardonnay combined to produce this wine. Gin Gin clone vines were used exclusively as I believe that this clone more so than any other expresses the exceptional and unique Margaret River and sub-regional terroir.

 The first plot of vines lies in the famed Wilyabrup sub-region. More examples of Margaret River’s most famous Chardonnays and Cabernets originate from fruit in this subregion than anywhere else in the district.

 The second plot of vines is in the far south sub-region of Karridale - the most southerly of Margaret River’s subregions. The vineyard is in close proximity to both the Indian and Southern Oceans leading to typically far lower growing season temperatures.

 The Season:

The 2019/20 growing season was characterised as being quite a warm one in respect to our typical mild Mediterranean seasons. Spring brought with it the typical mix of stunning days interspersed by a couple of significant storm events which lead reduced fertilisation of the Chardonnay inflorescences and consequent reduction in yields.

 Following on from a marginally warmer than usual spring, Summer arrived rapidly and we had several runs of significantly warmer than average temperatures which lead to an overall seasonal pattern of higher than average day time and night time temperatures – December in particular averaged 3 degrees warmer than average for day time maximum temperatures!

 Another key factor in our growing season weather was very low to no rainfall throughout the summer.

 What does all this mean for the grapes? The warmer temperatures resulted in the Chardonnay ripening a good 2-3 weeks earlier than average which consequently lead to one of the earliest starts to vintage on record – our first pick was on the 31^st of January. The warmer than average days and lack of rainfall had the beneficial result of an extremely low disease pressure throughout the growing season meaning that the health of the grapes upon harvest one some of the best I have ever witnessed.

 Winemaking:

All of the grapes for this wine were handpicked into small 8kg crates and immediately transported back to the winery where the whole bunches of grapes were placed gently into a traditional basket pressed to extract the juice. Whole-bunch basket pressing yields around 20+% less juice than a conventional airbag press, but the juice quality is second to none.

 The juice was run into a mix of brand new and seasoned oak. 1 brand new French oak barrel was used, giving the wine a new oak percentage of 14%. The remainder of the barrels were a mix of 2 and 3 year old oak. The wine was fermented dry utilising the indigenous yeast which came in on the grape bunches from the vineyard.

 Following alcoholic fermentation the wine was encouraged to undergo malolactic fermentation, a process whereby the malic acid naturally present in the grapes is converted into  the softer and more textural lactic acid. As with the alcoholic fermentation, this occurred through bacteria which were naturally present in the juice and winery environment. Following 100% completion of Malo the wine was sulphured and the wine racked off its heavy yeast lees. The wine has rested and developed in oak for 9 months during which time it underwent the process of bâtonnage (stirring of the yeast lees in the bottom of the barrel) for 3 months to encourage development of more complex, savoury aromas and flavours.

 This wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered, with our aim being to showcase the amazing fruit which went into making it in the purest way possible.

The Wine:

This wine reflects both the warmer 2019/20 season, the quality of the grapes and the high attention to detail in the winery.

The wine displays classic warmer vintage Chardonnay aromas of quince, white peach and nectarine, and hints of biscuity, savoury yeast notes and a suggestion of spiced oak.  On the palate the wine is medium bodied with a wonderfully fresh mineral acidity. The oak, diverse fruit notes and acidity are all held together by the classic Mr Barval soft mouth-feel. The texture and array of aromas and rich flavours result in a wine with fantastic length which is both highly complex as well as being both delicate and elegant

 This wine is drinking wonderfully on release but we expect it to begin to unwind and become more generous on the palate given time in the bottle. For those fans of aged Chardonnay I also believe this wine will age incredibly gracefully for 10+ years.

Salutè

Robert Gherardi

13.9% Alc.
Production: 2293 bottles

This wine is inspired by the early release Langhe Nebbiolo and Nebbiolo d’Alba styles of wine produced in the Barolo and Barbaresco zone of Italy. I have been living and working between Margaret River and this most famous of Italian fine wine regions since 2009. For this wine I wanted to make a great introduction to this grape variety which is totally foreign to most Australian consumers. As with all of my wines I sought to promote a purity of varietal expression and not take any aspect of the wine ‘too far’

A flawless pale garnet in colour, this wine displays all of the typical colour notes of the Italian Nebbiolo grape. Hints of just ripe red cherry, violet perfume and red/purple rose combine with a savoury ‘meatiness’ to give a light yet complex nose. The wine is medium weight at best, with high acidity and a high level of tannin so reminiscent of the Nebbiolo variety. Importantly, the tannins are not bitter but display a nutty dryness which works well to balance the cherry fruit and floral spice core of the palate. This wine was conceptualised as an early drinking style and will perhaps be at its best in the first 5 years of its life, but careful cellaring will see it mature and develop for well beyond that short timeframe.

Enjoy with salami and prosciutto, a rare grilled steak, or anything with some fats in it to give the tannins something to react with besides your gums and teeth and to transform the drinking experience.

45% Merlot 42% Petit Verdot 13% Malbec

14.5% ALC

Production: 2580 bottles

Continuing the story for this wine to provide a bit of a guilty pleasure for you. Wonderful mixes of florals, fruit and spice but with a generous, soft structure and low tannins, this wine was made for enjoyment.

The Vineyards:

The Merlot portion of the blend is from a very special vineyard. One of the oldest and most historic in the entire Margaret River district, this Wilyabrup site displays all of the most sought after vineyard characteristics. Of particular note is that the vines are old – around 45 years old and un-irrigated, which leads to production of a Merlot wine with amazing depth and complexity. 

 The Petit Verdot and Malbec portions for the blend come from 25 year old vines growing on a gentle north sloping vineyard also  in the Wilyabrup subregion of Margaret River. The soil is very gravelly and the vines work hard, focusing their energies on ripening healthy, vibrant fruit, not excesses of vegetative growth or high quantities.

 The Season:

The 2019/20 growing season was characterised as being quite a warm one in respect to our typical mild Mediterranean seasons. Spring brought with it the typical mix of stunning days interspersed by a couple of significant storm events which lead reduced fertilisation of the Chardonnay inflorescences and consequent reduction in yields.

 Following on from a marginally warmer than usual spring, Summer arrived rapidly and we had several runs of significantly warmer than average temperatures which lead to an overall seasonal pattern of higher than average day time and night time temperatures – December in particular averaged 3 degrees warmer than average for day time maximum temperatures!

 These warm to hot Summer conditions were perfect for the ripening of these wonderful red grapes and have resulted in a wine which shows all the hallmark softness, richness and approachability which we want our Vino Rosse to reflect.

 Winemaking:

All of the grapes for this wine were handpicked into small 8kg crates and immediately transported back to the winery where they were gently de-stemmed and not crushed, directly into their small fermentation vessels, a procedure which allowed the ferment to start with what were almost totally unburst, undamaged individual berries. The wines were fermented on skins utilising the indigenous yeasts, which arrived on the grape skins when the fruit arrived at the winery.

 The must underwent a slow, steady ferment with hand plunging twice each day. After around 14 – 23 days (batch dependant) the fruit was basket pressed into 3 year old French oak barriques and was left to complete malolactic fermentation in barrel utilising the activity of indigenous bacteria. The wine was left to mature for 21 months in barrel during which time it was racked via gravity one time and topped regularly.

 1 day before bottling the wine was racked out of barrel to tank using gravity (no pumps at all) and was then bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The Wine:

As soon as the lifted purple floral perfume notes from the Petit Verdot and dense, ripe red and dark berry notes from the Merlto and Malbec hit you nose, you know that you are in for a treat. On the palate the wine is incredibly soft, with great richness and complexity, but the nice acidity from the Petit Verdot grapes stops the wine becoming to heavy and dense. For such a rich and complex wine, the finish is clean and elegant, again due to the fantastic acid line. No tannins and unashamedly upfront fruit make this the true definition of a vinous guilty pleasure. This wine drinks incredibly easily, with no rough edges, but it will develop and reward cellaring for the medium term (5-10 yrs easily)

Salutè

Robert Gherardi

71% Cabernet Sauvignon 19% Merlot 10% Petit Verdot
14.3% Alc.
Production: 4980 bottles

Select parcels of grapes from the famous Wilyabrup and Walcliffe sub-regions are brought together in this classic Bordeaux blend. Elegance and delicacy combined with great complexity and length result in a real wine of substance.

The Vineyards:
The Cabernet portion of this wine came from five select vineyard sites. Three of the these lie in the real ‘Dress Circle’ of Margaret River viticulture in the heart of the Wilyabrup sub-region. This area of Margaret River has shown year after year that it can deliver consistently incredible fruit quality and the finest of our fine wines are produced from fruit grown here. The other two Cabernet vineyard blocks are located in the Walcliffe sub-region of Margaret River, with a strong northerly exposure and around 4km from the Indian Ocean overlooking the coastal end of the Margaret River itself. Perched high on this hillside, the vines grow in gravelly, well drained soil and experience fantastic exposure to the warm summer sunshine and regular, cooling sea breezes.

The Merlot portion of the blend is from a very special old vineyard. One of the oldest and most historic in the entire Margaret River district, this Wilyabrup site displays all of the most sought after vineyard characteristics. Of particular note is that the vines are old – around 45 years old and un-irrigated, which leads to production of a Merlot wine with amazing depth and complexity.

The Petit Verdot for the blend comes from 22 year old vines growing on a gentle north sloping vineyard also in the Wilyabrup subregion of Margaret River. The soil is very gravelly and the vines work hard, focusing their energies on ripening healthy, vibrant fruit, not excesses of vegetative growth or high quantities.

The Season:
The 2016/17 growing season produced a mixed bag for the region. Near perfect Spring conditions allowed for balanced bud burst and a strong and healthy start to the growing cycle. A lack of our 'typical' Spring storms around the month of flowering in November led to fantastic fruit set and what promised to be the best cropping volumes Margaret River had seen for many years. This is not to say that the vines were over cropped at all, just that it is typical for us as a region to receive some damaging winds and/or rain and hail during the flowering period which can drastically reduce crops on one or more varieties. However, from this early stage of growth, all varieties showed very good fruit set across the district and we were all excited for some higher volumes of our fine wines. 

Then our typical warm, dry summer never really came. Whilst we do not as a rule experience a hot summer, the Summer months of the 2016/17 season were particularly cold, even by Margaret River's cooler standards.  It felt like we didn't see the sun in January! Rather than our typical warm days of 24-28C maximums and fresh nights around 16C, we saw regular daily maximums struggling to push over 20C and night time temperatures regularly dropping to single digits!

So what did this mean for the grapes? Cooler temperatures lead to slower growth and development in the vine and thus a later harvest, and 2017 was a particularly late vintage. In respect to the 2017 Cabernet Merlot, we were blessed to have good weather in March and April which allowed for these later ripening varieties to fully mature and by the time we harvested, there was a definite buzz about the quality of the fruit.

Winemaking:
All of the grapes for this wine were handpicked into small 8kg crates and immediately transported back to the winery where they were gengtly de-stemmed and not crushed, directly into their small fermentation vessels, a procedure which allowed the ferment to start with what were almost totally unburst, undamaged individual berries. The wines were fermented on skins utilising the indigenous yeasts, which arrived on the grape skins when the fruit arrived at the winery.

The must underwent a slow, steady ferment with hand plunging twice each day. The individual batches spent between 12-21 days on skins after which the fruit was basket pressed into French oak barriques, with a small portion (12%) being new, and was left to complete malolactic fermentation in barrel utilising the activity of indigenous bacteria. The wine was left to mature for 21 months in barrel during which time it was racked via gravity one time and topped regularly.

One day before bottling the wine was racked out of barrel to tank and was then bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The Wine:
This is a classic Margaret River Cabernet Merlot with a strong connection with the famed Bordeaux wines of France which were the original inspiration for our region. Full bodied but not heavy, rich and powerful but not overbearing, amazing complexity with a vast array of flavours but with wonderful balance and poise, it is a Cabernet for all palates. Whilst it is still in the midst of youthful exuberance the wine is still a wonderful drink. However, time in the cellar will only be of benefit.  This wine has the balance and stricture to allow for cellaring for 25+ years.

Salutè

Robert Gherardi