2007 Stoney Rise Riesling
In 2007 we had the opportunity to purchase a special parcel of Riesling fruit which we couldn’t refuse. One of the star varietals for Tasmania, Riesling is quickly growing a reputation in Tasmania, for it’s austere, structured fruit characters. Our Riesling is made, as with all the Stoney Rise wines in a style that suits early consumption. The nose is floral and citrus fruit driven. The palate is steely with some mineral characters, while being backed by balanced acidity and the slightest hint of approachable residual sugar. Fantastic with Tom Yum soup or chilli prawns this wine is a great drink now, but will reward with some time in the bottle.
2007 Stoney Rise Chardonnay
October 2006 bought severe frosts to a large amount of the Australian wine industry, and at Stoney Rise for the first time in 20 years. Around half of our Chardonnay block was affected, resulting in low yields. The 2007 Stoney Rise Chardonnay was 50% fermented in French oak barriques and 50% in stainless steel. The resulting wine is fruit driven and very drinkable. The nose shows pear and honeysuckle while the palate is minerally with hints of oak and a long persistant finish.
2006 Stoney Rise Pinot Noir – Trophy Winner 2008 Tasmanian Wine Show
The second vintage off our Gravelly Beach vineyard. The 2006 vintage was very warm for Tasmania which resulted in early ripening. The wine is made in a fruit driven style, it goes into 2 to 3 year old French oak barrels for around 10 months. The nose is dark cherry, while the palate shows typical Pinot Noir forest floor characters, bright fruit and complex Pinot structure and texture. The finish is full and rounded with balanced acid. While ready to drink now it will soften and develop with a few years in the bottle.
2006 Holyman Pinot Noir – Trophy Winner 2008 Tasmanian Wine Show
The wine I love to make and drink. The Holyman wines when we make them are made in a more traditional Burgundian style. They are not reserve wines, but stylistically different and that is why we have a different label. The 2006 wine had 30% whole bunches in the ferment. We selectively go through the vineyard and pick the best, ripest bunches for this portion of the ferment before selectively picking the rest of the block. The wine is fermented with wild yeast that is present in the vineyard after a one week period of cold soaking to draw out colour and tannins from the grape skins. After pressing the wine goes into 30% new oak for a period of 15 months before being bottled. The resulting wine shows barnyard and dark cherry characters on the nose while the palate is structured, with hints of the stalk component, and ripe Pinot Noir fruit, with complimenting oak characters on the finish. This wine is made to be cellared and will soften and become increasingly complex in the next ten years.
2004 Stoney Rise Verjuice
To make our verjuice we picked Pinot Noir grapes just as the colour of the grape changes from green to pink. This allows the flavours to begin to show, while allowing us to pick the grapes with the required acidity. The 2004 Verjuice has hints of strawberry Pinot Noir on the nose, while the palate is very high in acid. The grapey flavours persist in the mouth until the crisp acid cleans the back palate. Ideally suited to chicken and fish dishes, verjuice has been around for hundreds of years. It adds a fruit flavour to salad dressings and a dollop in a risotto goes a long way. Great for deglazing pans or poaching pears with saffron, vanilla bean and a fine Tasmania sparkling wine. One of the attractions of verjuice for me is the fact the list of its uses is as wild as your imagination.
2003 Cleanskin Shiraz
Made with fruit from the Mt Benson, this wine was open fermented using wild yeasts. The wine spent its life before bottling mostly in old French oak barriques. With spice and plum fruit on the nose, the wine has a youthful, powerful palate, with juicy fruit driven flavours. It will develop more complexity with age. As a producer we want to ensure that the wine drinker gets to try our wines at the same high quality that we bottle them, so a decision was made to bottle this wine under a Stelvin closure.
