Our building has extended!

If you’ve been to our cellar door recently you will have noticed some changes! Our outdoor pergola area has been extended with a fancy alfresco dining area, and now includes our logo printed on the glass at the entrance. The extension means we have more shade and can cater for more people during our weekend lunches. It finishes off the building quite nicely we think!

Rob

Aleatico is in!

We’re rolling with the punches...yesterday we looked at the Aleatico fruit in the vineyard and the grapes were tasty and flavoursome. But the block had a fair amount of bird damage (hmm the birds are not silly, they go for the most flavoursome grapes first!), coupled with the four inches of rain we received last weekend, which meant we had to pick earlier than we would have liked.

We therefore handpicked only the good bunches, which was just under 1 tonne, short of the 3 tonne we were expecting. Last night we crushed it and put the yeast in straight away and this morning it had already developed some colour. The plan is to leave it on the skins for 36-48 hours to extract the desired colour and flavour, then press it off and put it in a tank. The wine will then be made essentially like a white wine, away from the skins. When we are happy with the sugar levels and balance of the wine we will stop the ferment early to retain this natural sugar for our dessert style wine.
Julia

Bottling time at di Lusso

The long awaited 2009 Appassimento – we did not produce a 2008 – has like its predecessors surprised us with its subtle year to year variation. This release is a rich amalgam of marmalades from a blend of mandarin, orange and even a hint of apricot; the complexity being derived from a new production method involving both drying on racks of some of the fruit and maturing a portion of the wine for a short period in French oak.

Two wines from our new Cypress Avenue range are being bottled today – the 2011 Pinot Grigio, our first made from Mudgee fruit! The other from this range is the 2011 Sangiovese, a different style to our usual Sangiovese.

Also bottling today...
2011 Picolit – we have made this one in truly authentic Italian style, which is by part drying the grapes on racks, and then at the end before bottling we put the wine in oak.
2011 Lagrein - This, the second release of this varietal wine hailing from Alto Adiga in North Italy, has aromas that remind me of walks alongside blackcurrant bushes. The palate like its predecessor is deep robust and almost earthy. A great wine to accompany a rich roast meat and vegetables – not a chicks wine!
Rob