2012 ANSTED&CO. North Harcourt Vineyard Syrah
VINEYARD - Click here to see on Google Maps
This wine comes from the vineyard planted by me at the Northern end of the Harcourt Valley in 2003. The Harcourt Valley is located at the southernmost extremity of the Bendigo wine region. This area is distinctive for its higher altitude (400m compared to 200-250m for the majority of the Bendigo region) and its granite soils (most of the Bendigo region has alluvial clay soils).
The area's more southerly latitude and higher elevation make it significantly cooler than the rest of the Bendigo wine region. This usually means that the wines from the Harcourt Valley have a more little more elegance and a spicy edge.
The area's Granite soil is also unique in the Bendigo region and gives the wines an extra degree of structure, minerality, suppleness and a certain clarity.
Following the challenging 2011 season, in which no wine was bottled under the ANSTED&CO. label, 2012 presented more benign conditions, not withstanding rain in early March that caused a few nervous moments. The wines produced in 2012 are closer to the style I had anticipated when I planted the vineyard back in 2003 - fragrant, spicy, medium weight wines with intensity but not heaviness.
Having learnt from the previous four vintages in 2012 a range of techniques were used to make this wine. Essentially the wine is a blend of three components. The first from a relatively conventional batch where the grapes were de-stemmed and the fermentation took place in small open fermenters, which were hand plunged twice per day and pressed off skins once fermentation was complete. The second involved 100% whole bunches being put into a one tonne fermenter and the lid sealed for three weeks before being opened and the grapes foot-trodden. Fermentation then proceeded with limited foot treading before pressing 10 days later. The grapes for the third component were treated similarly to the first but were then kept on skins for an additional 55 days before they were pressed to French oak barrels a third of which were 500L puncheons with the balance being barriques. The wine was aged in barrel for 14 months prior to bottling.
The aim with this wine is to emphasize the variety and site rather than the winemaking. This wine is the result of a barrel selection based on both style and quality. With this wine I am looking for intensity, complexity and balance rather than sheer power and weight. The wine shows bright dark cherry aromas with some subtle oak input. The palate is medium bodied with evident but fine tannins.
75 cases produced.
VINEYARD - Click here to see on Google Maps
This wine comes from the vineyard planted by me at the Northern end of the Harcourt Valley in 2003. The Harcourt Valley is located at the southernmost extremity of the Bendigo wine region. This area is distinctive for its higher altitude (400m compared to 200-250m for the majority of the Bendigo region) and its granite soils (most of the Bendigo region has alluvial clay soils).
The area's more southerly latitude and higher elevation make it significantly cooler than the rest of the Bendigo wine region. This usually means that the wines from the Harcourt Valley have a more little more elegance and a spicy edge.
The area's Granite soil is also unique in the Bendigo region and gives the wines an extra degree of structure, minerality, suppleness and a certain clarity.
Following the challenging 2011 season, in which no wine was bottled under the ANSTED&CO. label, 2012 presented more benign conditions, not withstanding rain in early March that caused a few nervous moments. The wines produced in 2012 are closer to the style I had anticipated when I planted the vineyard back in 2003 - fragrant, spicy, medium weight wines with intensity but not heaviness.
Having learnt from the previous four vintages in 2012 a range of techniques were used to make this wine. Essentially the wine is a blend of three components. The first from a relatively conventional batch where the grapes were de-stemmed and the fermentation took place in small open fermenters, which were hand plunged twice per day and pressed off skins once fermentation was complete. The second involved 100% whole bunches being put into a one tonne fermenter and the lid sealed for three weeks before being opened and the grapes foot-trodden. Fermentation then proceeded with limited foot treading before pressing 10 days later. The grapes for the third component were treated similarly to the first but were then kept on skins for an additional 55 days before they were pressed to French oak barrels a third of which were 500L puncheons with the balance being barriques. The wine was aged in barrel for 14 months prior to bottling.
The aim with this wine is to emphasize the variety and site rather than the winemaking. This wine is the result of a barrel selection based on both style and quality. With this wine I am looking for intensity, complexity and balance rather than sheer power and weight. The wine shows bright dark cherry aromas with some subtle oak input. The palate is medium bodied with evident but fine tannins.
75 cases produced.
2013 ANSTED&CO. VARIATION NO.1
In 2009 we decided to make the tough (financial) decision to declassify a number of barrels to ensure the quality of the 2009 North Harcourt Vineyard Syrah. We spent almost a year trying to come up with a clever name for a second label, but despite many hours of hard thought and heavy drinking we were struggling. We wanted something that spoke to the fact that the wine was different but similar to its sibling (a name that was already taken). Being a bit of a classical music fan a moment of inspiration arrived while listening to a recording of Glenn Gould playing Bach's Goldberg Variations.
The definition of VARIATION that we came across gave us: One of a series of forms based on a single theme. We thought this summed up what we had been looking for.
2013 was a mild to warm season. Good winter rain led into an almost ideal summer season. A warm late January and early February allowed the grapes to achieve ideal flavour ripeness a week earlier than usual.
This wine shares with the NHV Syrah intense flavour and a fine structure but in a somewhat lighter frame. It also has some spicy elements from a component of whole bunch . It is a wine that is aimed at immediate consumption but will gain further complexity over the next 3-5 years.
140 cases produced
In 2009 we decided to make the tough (financial) decision to declassify a number of barrels to ensure the quality of the 2009 North Harcourt Vineyard Syrah. We spent almost a year trying to come up with a clever name for a second label, but despite many hours of hard thought and heavy drinking we were struggling. We wanted something that spoke to the fact that the wine was different but similar to its sibling (a name that was already taken). Being a bit of a classical music fan a moment of inspiration arrived while listening to a recording of Glenn Gould playing Bach's Goldberg Variations.
The definition of VARIATION that we came across gave us: One of a series of forms based on a single theme. We thought this summed up what we had been looking for.
2013 was a mild to warm season. Good winter rain led into an almost ideal summer season. A warm late January and early February allowed the grapes to achieve ideal flavour ripeness a week earlier than usual.
This wine shares with the NHV Syrah intense flavour and a fine structure but in a somewhat lighter frame. It also has some spicy elements from a component of whole bunch . It is a wine that is aimed at immediate consumption but will gain further complexity over the next 3-5 years.
140 cases produced
