2014 Between Five Bells – White Wine – Geelong Victoria
Chardonnay / Pinot Gris / Riesling / Pinot Meunier
Working with two local Geelong growers, David Fesq isolated small parcels of Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Meunier to be harvested within a few days of each other. Almost equal quantities of each arrived at the winery, where they were whole-bunch pressed into 1,600L tanks for a co-fermented primary ferment. Extended solids-contact and 100% completion of malolactic fermentation round out the main winemaking influences.
But is not the varieties or the winemaking that frame this wine, rather it is the collective sum and the “Vibe”. The wine is largely left alone as it spends a year in tank, so the resulting profile is a combination of clean white fruit, creaminess and complexity from extended lees contact, plus a tang of gentle oxidation. It has a lovely copper tone to the colour (thanks to the Pinot Meunier) and you can expect the aromas and flavours to change dramatically in the glass, at once tart and crisp, then warm and rich.
This wine is all about texture and there is a creaminess and richness to the wine. Full bodied with cracking acidity and a palate that seems to linger for ever. There is also a weight to this wine which is unusual for most white wines. The list of descriptors used to describe this wine could take up this whole newsletter. Just open it up and enjoy it.
This is one of the most exciting and distinctive white wines I have tried for a long time and I am so pleased it comes from Australia, or should I say the “New Australia”. Only 270 cases were produced