Making wine in Australia that tastes like Europe

Making wine in Australia that tastes like Europe.

As a young couple we loved to share a bottle of Beaujolais, Village.  We adored its fruitiness tannin and soft finish; at the time no one in Australia was producing anything remotely like it.  I think this is where the seed was sown to produce a comparable, more accurately interpretive, wine style.

The grape variety Gamay was not widely produced when we first planted our vineyard and I’m not even sure if you could buy cuttings back then, I'm not up to date with what clones of Gamay are now available in Australia.  Our first priority was to plant Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to produce sparkling wine given it was the reason we relocated from the Riverland of South Australia to greater Hobart.  At that time 1990 Australia was experiencing a financial crisis and businesses were dropping like flies due to ultra high interest rates around 18-21% the levels not yet seen since.  Luckily grapes that were tightly held became available due to the difficult financial conditions.

Confident that we could sell a new style of wine, high interest rates did not deter us other than check our exuberance to make more wine than we could really afford.  At that time banks were really conservative in their lending, given the foreclosures.

In 1993 we produced our first very fruity, soft Pinot Noir we called it Primavera Pinot Noir modelled on our favourite Beaujolais.  We pinched the name ‘Primavera’ off a set of 4 decorative plates named after each of the seasons Steve’s mother, Dolores purchased from Bassano, Italy during one of their machinery buying trips with her husband Mario.

We were purchasing grapes at the time, as our vineyards were not yet producing.  Steve believed the best wine he could make was a soft red, one highly perfumed, super fruity, with very soft tannins and acids.  Something with a romantic flare that would appeal to all generations, a wine to share with those you love, a lover's wine.  A wine that can accompany a picnic or ordered from a wine list at an expensive restaurant.  It can be given as a gift trusting it has universal appeal.

Our Granton vineyards have been in production for decades now and we converted to biodynamics in 2010.  Our Primavera wine has grown in stature and quality during this time.  Each vintage we elevate this wine to the next level of irresistibility.  The grapes are supplied with more and more nutrition, the winemaking and processing equipment are fine-tuned and its oak components are now matched more succinctly.

Today we release the newest addition to our premium wine offering with the very delicious 2022 Primavera Pinot Noir.  This wine shines as a wonderful example of how a European wine inspired us to create our very own flavour of Europe in Tasmania.  Raspberries and strawberries perfume the nose while subtle flavours of cherries and dark berries as well as cedar spice saturate the palate.  Super fine silky tannins and acids hold tension and slowly fades out on the finish.  This wine suits many cuisines and is built to age 5-10 years depending on your cellar.

We celebrate the new release of our 2022 Primavera Pinot Noir!