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The Daisy Hill district thrived throughout the 1850s, due to its location along the main route to and from gold fields. The Amherst property sits atop old alluvial tailings, ancient diggings can still be seen around the property dressed in rich quartz soils. Amherst» |
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Amherst is a town rich with colourful history and local folklore, site of the first official gold find in 1851, it launched a mining rush which expanded throughout central Victoria. The district's long association with viticulture is also prolific and colourful. Amherst» |
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There are two superb high altitude sites in Carey Gully and Piccadilly Valley, which yield an extraordinary quality of Sauvignon Blanc. Knappstein take the top cut of each harvest, crushing the fruit for a long cool vinification, treating a batch to the added richness of oak barrel ferments for texture, complexity and weight. Riposte» |
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Twice Gold Medal Challenge International du Vin! Moscatel and Gewürtztraminer grapes, grown to estate vineyards on the mountains of the Upper Penedes, form the backbone of fruit for Viña Esmeralda, a delicate but strunningly fragrant wine. The dry fig and raisin characters of Moscatel de AlejandrÃa give Esmerelda it's luscious and flavourful palate, fleshed out by the orange of Frontignac or Moscatel de Grano Menudo as the Spanish say, further enhanced by the complex aromaticness and spice of the vivacious Traminer.. Torres» |
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In exceptional years, parcels of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot are separately fermented. The best lots are assembled into a multiple trophy winer named Harry's Monster and treated to an extravagant maturation in the finest oak. Giant Steps» |
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A vineyard of some historical import, Bernoota is the original block, planted to the Follett family homestead along the banks of River Bremer, two decades before federation. A splendid construct of Langhorne Creek Shiraz Cabernet, selected from old vines around the distinguished Follett family vineyard, perennially released to resounding accolades. Lake Breeze» |
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From one of the oldest productive blocks of Marsanne in the world, an opulent white wine of remarkable complexity. The pick of fruit from this very special patch of ancient vines is crafted into a wine that's built to age beautifully in bottle, initially brooding and water white, evolving luxurious caramelled characters while unravelling layers of flavour. Tahbilk» |
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The top shelf in toothsome and dulcetly fragrant, fruit forward frizzante wines, fashioned for those who know what they like and take their Moscato seriously. Brown Brothers make the best Moscato in the land, their dedicated Muscat vineyards have been trained to deliver harvests of the most luscious fruit. Brown Brothers» |
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This enduring flagship wine can boast twenty trophys and over seventy gold medals throughout its illustrious history. Penley Steyning captures and enhances the excellence in first growth Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, highlighted by rich berry tones, superior length and layers of intense flavour, a wine which achieves perfect harmony between massive intensity of fruit, mouth filling grape tannins and elegant acids. Penley Estate» |
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Pietro D’orsa found work in Australia as a winegrower circa 1868, quenching the thirst of miners during the Victorian gold rush. Several generations later, Pietro's progeny returned to viticulture. Sanguine» |
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The enthusiastic maritime climes of Martinborough are heaven sent for a style and quality of Sauvignon Blanc to rival the world's finest. Mother nature sets the stage, but ultimately it is the thoughtful viticultural practices of the Palliser Estate team, which ensures a harvest of ripe and intensely flavoured Sauvignon Blanc at every vintage. Palliser Estate» |
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Yealands Seaview Vineyard is exposed to some of the toughest growing conditions in Marlborough, high sunshine and billowing winds wind, cool nights and low rainfalls for a smaller, thicker skinned Pinot Gris of exciting intensity. Fruit from the relatively flat, coastal L6M block, provides a pure mineral elegance to the structural backbone. Yealands Estate» |
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Moorooduc
About Moorooduc - the Winery
Moorooduc
Established 1982 by Richard and Jill McIntyre, Moorooduc Estate is a small, family run wine business which has developed an enviable reputation for complex, food friendly wines
All the wines are made on site at the estate's rammed earth winery. From a very modest 20 tonne winery set up in 1987, Moorooduc now have a more sophisticated facility with a small but high quality Bucher press and Vaslin – Bucher destemmer. The philosophy of everything that's done at Moorooduc is to make the most of top quality ingredients. Intensive, hands n care in the vineyard, with minimal use of chemicals, produces the best possible fruit for wine. Wild yeast ferments and minimal intervention winemaking, with a nod to traditional Burgundian techniques, allow the wines to express their specificity of site and terroir. Similarly, Moorooduc aim to source ingredients for accompanying foods that are seasonal, local and organic. The emphasis is on gentle winemaking methods with important quality control.
For the red wines, the whole bunches of grapes are cooled and destemmed but not crushed, dropped directly into two tonnes open fermenters, thus avoiding the need to pump the musts. After four to six days of maceration, the primary wild yeast fermentation begins. This takes about a week to complete with the temperature peaking at about 34º centigrade. A few more days on skins completes a total maceration time of 19-21 days when the new wine is pressed, after a day or two to settle out the gross lees, it is transferred to barrel. A natural malolactic fermentation occurs in the following spring. The wine is racked only once when it is assembled and prepared for bottling.
For the white wines the freshly picked whole bunches are gravity fed into the press where a program designed for sparkling wine base is used to separate the juice from the skins, pips and stems. The cloudy juice from the press is not settled but transferred to the fermentation vessel – almost always being oak barrels. Fermentation occurs naturally through wild yeasts and the wine remains on lees until it is assembled for final treatments. More often than not, a natural malolactic fermentation takes place in barrel.
The wine growing regions surrounding the city of Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay are known as the dress circle. These include Mornington Peninsula, Macedon Ranges and Geelong. The overall climate in this part of southern Victoria is temperate, with a moderate rainfall, mainly in the winter and spring. The critical ripening period for wine grapes is in the late summer and autumn, which is the most stable season with, in general, cool nights and dry, sunny days.
Moorooduc's home vineyard is McIntyre, mainly planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with a small amount of Shiraz. It is an elevated site, about 80 metres above sea level, with a gentle north to north westerly facing slope. The topsoil is very sandy but the subsoil is unusually vine friendly clay with veins of sand running through it. Deep down in this layer one encounters red coloured clay and rock indicating the presence of oxides of iron. Once the vines reach maturity, they require no irrigation, having put their roots deeply into this layer. The oldest vines were planted in 1983. Over recent years, a grafting program has meant that there are now an interesting mix of Pinot Noir clones, some grafted onto original 1983 plantings. The larger Robinson vineyard is a few minutes drive south of McIntyre.
Moorooduc also source parcels of exceptional fruit from viticulturalist Hugh Robinson's superlative site. Of particular interest are some newly available, high quality clones of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. From this fruit, Moorooduc produce the individual vineyard wines, Robinson Vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The estate Garden Vineyard is a small site, a stone’s throw from McIntyre, planted to Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris. The house block Pinot Noir is a small north facing slope. These are all outstanding sites, the very top pick of fruit, vinified in highly traditional Burgundy techniques, for a superior range of magnificent Mornington wines.
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