Wine~Works
Wine & Beer Tastings with a Difference
This Month’s Featured Producer: Plantagenet
This month we are featuring Plantagenet Wines, one of the premier producers in Western Australia. We regularly feature the Omrah range in our tastings.
Plantagenet Wines was the first winery in the Great Southern region and produces some of Western Australia‘s most exciting yet classically elegant wines. Their first vintage was in 1975.
The Plantagenet winery is located in the Mount Barker township, a sub-district of the Great Southern region in Western Australia.
The area is known for its premium cool climate wine production, its proximity to the Southern Ocean ensuring the slow ripening of the grapes which enhances the aromatic qualities of the grapes. A true proponent of the cool climate Australian style, winemaker John Durham joined from Cape Mentelle in 2007 (winemaker there for 21 years) and his impact on the Plantagenet style and quality has been substantial. Their five vineyards of 126 hectares are located to the south and west of the town on gravelly loam soils over a base of clay, sand or ironstone rock.
We are absolutely delighted to feature Allegrini as our chosen producer this month and, as always, even more delighted to offer their entire range. Forget those insipid Valpolicellas which dominate the shelves....these are stunning!
All of Allegrini’s impeccable wines are produced from estate-grown fruit from their 90 hectares of vineyard in the communes of Sant’ Ambrogio and Fumane. Across the range and from vintage to vintage, they have superb fruit, balance, intensity, length, elegance, tipicity and, above all, drinkability.
Each wine has winemaker Franco Allegrini’s distinct stamp of quality, but every one has its own distinctive character. They are among the elite of the world’s best producers of red wines. The family has been growing grapes in Valpolicella for several generations, and the estate in its current form was founded by Giovanni Allegrini. When he died in 1983, it passed to his three children, who ran it together until Walter’s death in July 2003. Franco now looks after the vineyards and is the winemaker, while Marilisa is director of marketing. From the 2007 vintage, Franco sacrificed the Classico status of the Valpolicella and bottled the wine under Stelvin in order to eliminate as much as possible the problems of cork taint and random oxidation. Their south-east facing vineyards are located in the hills of the Valpolicella Classico region ranging from 150-250 metres above sea level for the Valpolicella to as high as 310 metres at the top of Podere La Grola where the chalky, white La Poja vineyard stretches across 2.65 hectares. Soils are very varied but mostly chalky, of volcanic origin, especially in La Poja where the soil is 78% chalk. The older vineyards are trained using the pergola Trentina system, planted with about 3,000 vines per hectare, whereas the newer ones use the single Guyot system with 5,000 plants per hectare. The vines are 28 years old on average.
This Month's Featured Producer
This month we are delighted to feature Kevin Judd, the winemaker of Greywacke which as won many international awards.
Greywacke is the exciting solo venture of Kevin Judd, who was formerly the chief winemaker at Cloudy Bay for 25 vintages, and was instrumental in the international recognition which New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc enjoys today. The name ‘Greywacke’ was adopted by Kevin for his first Marlborough vineyard located in Rapaura in recognition of the high prevalence of rounded Greywacke river stones in the soils there.
The debut wine under the Greywacke label was the 2009 vintage with his Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc displaying the hallmarks of Kevin’s famed style: ripe fruit, fine balance, great concentration and superb varietal intensity. Grapes come from prime, low yielding vineyard sites in and around Marlborough’s Southern (Brancott and Ben Morven) Valleys, and are vinified using ‘non-interventionist’ techniques. His range also includes a Wild Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay.
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100 VoucherThe Wine Guy says...
"I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food."
"I should say upfront that I have never been in a cellar in my life. In fact, I can see no reason why anyone should ever go into a cellar unless there is wine involved."
"Beer is made by men, wine by God."
"Wine gladdens the heart of man."
"Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages."
"In wine, there's truth."
"High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water; but everybody likes water."
"This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts."
"If we sip the wine, we find dreams coming upon us out of the imminent night"
"Give me wine to wash me clean of the weather stains of cares"
"Wine can of their wits the wise beguile, Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile"
"Wine enters through the mouth, Love, the eyes. I raise the glass to my mouth, I look at you,I sigh."
"Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilized."
"Wine is like the incarnation--it is both divine and human"
"Wine makes all things possible."
"Sir, I did not count your glasses of wine, why should you number up my cups of tea?"
"Wine can be a better teacher than ink, and banter is often better than books"
"Life's too short to drink cheap wine..."
"The first kiss and the first glass of wine are the best."
"A bottle of wine begs to be shared; I have never met a miserly wine lover"
"I prefer my water in wine form."
"White wine is like electricity. Red wine looks and tastes like a liquified beefsteak."
"Great wine works wonders and is itself one"
"To take wine into our mouths is to savour a droplet of the river of human history"
"Wine gives one 'ideas,' whereas champagne gives one 'strategies."
"Men are like wine-some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age."
"Most days I juggle everything quite well, on the other days there's always red wine."
"There is truth in wine, but you never see it listed in the ingredients on the label"
"Always carry a corkscrew and the wine shall provide itself."
"Wine is like the incarnation-it is both divine and human."
"Wine improves with age. The older I get the more I like it."
"Age is just a number. It's totally irrelevant, unless, of course, you happen to be a bottle of wine."
"My only regret in life is that I did not drink enough Champagne."
"Consuming wine in moderation daily will help people to die young as late as possible."
"Wine is the thinking person's health drink."
"Wine cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires the young, makes weariness forget his toil"
"The wine cup is the little silver well, where truth, if truth there be, doth dwell"
"Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance"
"Good wine is a necessity of life for me"
"Champagne is one of the elegant extras in life"
"I drink Champagne when I win, to celebrate and I drink Champagne when I lose, to console myself"
"God made water, but man made wine"
"Penicillin cures, but wine makes people happy"
"Drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life's most civilized pleasures"
"A bottle of good wine, like a good act, shines ever in the retrospect"
"Like human beings, a wine's taste is going to depend a great deal on its origins and its upbringing"
"Compromises are for relationships, not wine"
"Language is wine upon the lips"
"Wine is wonderful stuff, but so many people are put off by the snobbery of it"
"I'm only drinking white wine because I'm on a diet and I don't eat"
"Wine has been with civilised man since the beginning"
"Whenever a man is tired, wine is a great restorer"
"Wine rejoices the heart of man and joy is the mother of all virtues"
"A waltz and a glass of wine invite an encore"
"Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing."
"Good wine carrieth a man to heaven"
"Drink wine, and you will sleep well. Sleep, and you will not sin. Avoid sin, and you will be saved. Ergo, drink wine and be saved."
"A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine."
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