Kastambul Vintners

Nestled in the heart of the Adelaide Hills is the picturesque Piccadilly Valley, and with its unique cool climate, pre-historic soils and altitude, it just happens to be one of the best places in Australia to produce world class Chardonnay.

The fruit for the 2012 Kastambul Chardonnay was hand harvested on a cool, misty Adelaide Hills morning on March 23rd. The small bunches of premium fruit were carefully sorted, selected and placed into 400kg picking bins and transported directly to the winery, where the fruit was tipped into the bag press to allow gentle whole bunch pressing. The pristine free run juice was then cold settled overnight prior to being racked into a mixture of new and seasoned French oak barriques.

Each barrel was allowed to warm naturally, and wild yeasts commenced fermentation. Two barrels were then inoculated with selected yeast strains to compliment the naturally occurring fermentations. Towards the end of ferment, all barrels were held at 18 degrees to encourage partial secondary fermentation. Once the ideal balance was achieved, the wine rested on yeast lees for a further nine months to gain extra complexity.

After ten months in French oak, the barrels were meticulously racked, blended and sent to bottling without filtration.

Bright pale straw in colour, the 2012 Kastambul Chardonnay shows delicate hints of white peach, cashew and melon fruits with a touch of flint and funk from natural fermentation. The palate is fine and balanced, with an elegant touch of oak complementing the primary fruit flavours and fine acid structure.

The fruit for the 2012 Kastambul Shiraz was hand harvested over two picks, being the 17th and 23rd of March, with the subtle variances in ripeness paving the way for greater complexity in the final blend. The prevailing vintage conditions, small bunches, tiny berries and a low yield in general meant that a meager 1.82t was picked in total.

Once at the winery, the first parcel was destemmed then tipped directly into a two tonne fermenter without any pumping. This provided us with a high percentage of whole berries, aiding in the retention of the lifted berry and pepper spice flavours. The second parcel had the inclusion of 20% whole bunches, aiming to provide extra lift and savoury complexity. Indigenous yeasts commenced the fermentations, and the crimson musts were both hand plunged two to three times per day, based on fermentation rate and temperature. Towards the end of ferment, both parcels were pumped over in order to aerate and invigorate the yeast prior to pressing.

After being gently pressed, the wines were filled into French oak barriques where primary and secondary fermentation was completed. After twelve months in French oak, each barrel was carefully racked and blended. Once complete, the wine was bottled with minimal finings and filtration.

Deep crimson in colour, the 2012 Kastambul Shiraz shows a delicate hint of blood plum, berry fruit and violets with a gentle savoury spice undercurrent. The palate is fine and balanced, with the subtle French oak complementing the primary fruit, savoury complexities and velvet tannin persistence.