Garagiste & The Story Victorian Pinot Noirs
Winery : Various
Garagiste Wines:
Winemaker Barnaby (Barney) Flanders is one of a growing band of winemakers who don't actually own vineyards, preferring instead to lease or purchase the best fruit they can (often grown to their specifications).
2012 Garagiste Red Hill Pinot Noir SPECIAL $45: Pretty perfume with black cherries, sweet violets and whiff or two of undergrowth. Very impressive on the palate, fleshy and quite dense but supple too. It keeps on giving with each mouthful, there's certainly a lot to like here. Made from 22 year old vines, clone MV6 off the red ferrosol soils of Red Hill (hence the name).
The Story Wines:
Rory and Anita Lane are 30-somethings who live and work out of Melbourne where they have a warehouse and winemaking facility. Here's the story -
'I mean come on, I was 25 when this began. We could have inherited one, or gone into the family wine business, but alas, we have no family history in the industry. What we did have was enough cash to rent a factory space, buy a press, a few open fermenters, a mono pump, some fittings and some decent oak. We also had a few vintages under our belt, both in Australia and Oregon in the US. And hence we have some wine, made from grapes bought from some wonderful vineyards, in some cases now quite old vineyards, a love for the cool spice and subtlety of Grampians Shiraz, and some stories.'
And a love for pinot too, if these two very limited releases are anything to judge by.
2012 The Story Henty Pinot Noir $42: Only 55 dozen made. Characterful wine with great fruit and excellent texture, in part as a result of using 100% whole bunch and indigenous yeasts. Small, dark berry fruits, delicious spice, plenty going on aroma-wise and it follows through with great flavours. Gary Walsh Winefront: 'Cherries, sweet liquorice, fair amount of perfume and spice, maybe some beetroot kind of earthiness. Medium bodied, round and quite raspberry juicy – less a wine of finesse, more a wine of character – then a pleasant spread of sappy flavoured, but ripe tannin and a good finish – all dried herbs and earthy bass. Feels good. Love drinking it.' www.winefront.com.au