Our Wines
OUR CURRENT WINES
From 2011 to 2017 the grapes for our wines were grown on Stuart Woodman’s vineyard at Springton, which was mine in a previous iteration. This vineyard is at 440 metres in the Eden Valley Region.
In 2018 and 2019 the grapes were sourced from Michael Noack’s vineyard, directly across the road from the Woodman vineyard.
All fruit was hand harvested.
2011 CELLAR MATURED RIESLING
$36 per bottle – CLICK HERE TO BUY ONLINE
This small parcel of premium Riesling grapes was sourced from the very old vines (planted in the 1920’s).
The climatic patterns in 2011 delivered a wine with lovely Riesling characters, but with a significant acid level. This took time to integrate and so we held the wine back to allow this to happen.
Wine show results support that that this wine has been developing in recent years
Judges notes from 2020 Barossa Wine Show: “Bright colour with green tinge. Showing glorious developed characters. The palate is fresh and vibrant.”
2022 Canberra Riesling Challenge the wine was awarded 88 points and a “Commendation”.
2023 Canberra Riesling Challenge the wine was awarded a gold medal – 94 points and an “Excellent” Award.
The wine still maintains a pale vibrant straw yellow with green hues. It has powerful, herbaceous characters with lime overtones and is rich and complex with hints of marmalade. It is lingering, balanced and mouth filling. I cannot believe it is already 14 years old. It tastes so young and fresh, but has the potential to be an aged classic.
12.5% alcohol
2013 RIESLING
$32 per bottle – CLICK HERE TO BUY ONLINE
A mild but very dry ripening period in the Woodman Vineyard enabled this premium parcel of fruit to slowly achieve rich, ripe flavours, which were intensified by the drier conditions. The wine is exhibiting golden colour, with a lively herbaceous lime marmalade aroma leading to an outstanding complex palate showing toast and lime marmalade.
Riesling, unlike most white wine varieties, has a remarkable ability to improve with gentle ageing in the bottle. The change from a fresh, young style to a rich complex aged style is the hallmark of this variety from a superior grape-growing area. This wine is exhibiting classic aged Riesling characters.
2014 RIESLING
$30 per bottle – CLICK HERE TO BUY ONLINE
2014 was certainly rated as unusual in the Eden Valley area. A few severe heat spikes were interspersed with rain and cool – sometimes even cold weather. This was wonderful for the vines, with the following fine, cool and clear conditions producing an extended gentle ripening period, allowing the grapes to achieve full maturity with great flavour.
Riesling, unlike most white wine varieties, has a remarkable ability to improve with gentle ageing in the bottle. The change from a fresh, young style to a rich complex aged style is the hallmark of this variety from a superior grape-growing area. This wine was made totally differently from all other Rieslings made by me. I wanted to leave the juice in contact with the skins for two hours prior to pressing. The resultant wine shows much more colour, body and “weight” on the nose and palate than my usual Riesling and is certainly rich and full flavoured.
2019 RIESLING
$22 per bottle – CLICK HERE TO BUY ONLINE
This small parcel of premium Riesling came from Michael Noack’s vineyard and was grown under very dry conditions over the ripening period, intensifying the fruit characters and it exhibits the structure which enable good aging.
12.0% alcohol
2014 ALEXANDER MURRAY
MERLOT, CABERNET SAUVIGNON & CABERNET FRANC
$34 per bottle – CLICK HERE TO BUY ONLINE
The grapes were sourced from Stuart Woodman’s vineyard at Springton. This was previously my vineyard and this wine is dedicated to our dad, Alexander Murray Forbes. Murray (as he was known to everybody) worked tirelessly planting, and then trellising, the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes, with me, back in 1970’s. Murray’s friendly good humour always came to the fore in those long days in the vineyard.
I believe that these three varieties work particularly well in the cooler climate and terroir of the Eden Valley area.
The wine is a blend of 50% Merlot, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Cabernet Franc. The soft cherry/blackberry overtones from the Merlot are supported by the complex characters generated by the Cabernet Sauvignon and topped off by the fruit lift from the Cabernet Franc. The magnificent aromatics, which must come from the Eden Valley Merlot is quite outstanding. This complex bundle of flavours, with layer upon layer of berry characters, makes this wine a delight to drink either with food or on its own.
This wine still has good cellaring potential for at least another five years.
13.9% alcohol
2015 ALEXANDER MURRAY
MERLOT, CABERNET SAUVIGNON & CABERNET FRANC
$32 per bottle – CLICK HERE TO BUY ONLINE
The grapes were sourced from Stuart Woodman’s vineyard. The wine is a blend of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc.
The wine has a traditional Eden Valley Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot nose, with lifted aromatics and berry fruit overtones. This mouth-filling wine has an outstanding Cabernet long palate, with multiple layers of berry character. Like its predecessor, this wine is a delight to drink either with food or on its own.
This wine still has good cellaring potential for at least another five years.
14.0% alcohol
2015 ALEXANDER MURRAY
THE SPARKLING
$29 per bottle – CLICK HERE TO BUY ONLINE
The grapes were sourced from Stuart Woodman’s vineyard. This wine was produced using a portion of the 2015 Alexander Murray wine which was then put through the “champagne” process, accentuating the complexity of the wine. Sparkling red wines tend to age very well, as this one proving, so could be cellared for some time.
But it is drinking really well now, so why wait!
13.7% alcohol
Two six packs for you, I think you’ll find they’re worth the punt!
6 pack of Rieslings
$180 – CLICK HERE TO BUY ONLINE
The Riesling, from what was my vineyard at Springton, changed my perception of aged Riesling years ago. The aged vines, that I eventually worked out had been planted in the 1920s, produced limited grape crops which made good, but not outstanding wine. When the wine did become outstanding was once it achieved at least ten years of age. The development of complex lime juice/marmalade characters was exciting. I would like to say that this was due to my wine making ability, but in reality, it was probably down to the combination of the aged vines, the cool climate and the soil.
Includes one bottle each of: 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2019.
2008 Luminous in appearance, this classic aged Riesling shows all the lime marmalade characters
that are the hallmark of great aged Rieslings.
2009 Fantastic colour, looks much younger than the year would normally suggest.
2011 Aromatic Riesling fruit with a lively lengthy palate.
2014 Intense golden colour with powerful lime nose and rich complex palate.
2018 Typical Eden Valley citrus Riesling characters on the nose and palate.
2019 Fresh zingy Riesling characters on both the nose and palate.
6 pack of reds
$186 – CLICK HERE TO BUY ONLINE
Includes 2 bottles of each: 2010, 2014 and 2015
Our reds are always made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, with the proportions dependent on ripeness and picking times.
2010 The smooth “blackcurrant” characters and long palate of Cabernet Sauvignon (50%) are supported by the supple berry characters of the Merlot (35%) with the complimentary characteristics of the Cabernet Franc (15%).
2014 The amazing aromatics, combined with the complex berry flavours of the Merlot (50%) are supported by the renowned structure of Cabernet Sauvignon (32%) and the fruitiness of Cabernet Franc (18%).
2015 The renowned structure of Cabernet Sauvignon (64%) is enhanced by the complex berry flavours of Merlot (25%) and the complimentary characteristics of Cabernet Franc (11%).
