Malbec 2009                                                                                                                           

The fruit was hand picked at optimal ripeness and then allowed to ferment using natural or wild yeasts in small open fermenters. It shows strong colour and a wonderful palate of mulberry and intense blackberry with considerable length and soft tannin finish. After eighteen months maturation in a mix of French and American oak barrels we selected the best 5 barrels for this very limited wine (and as it was bottled without filtration it might throw a small crust in the bottle).                                                     
Match this robust wine with strongly flavoured meat dishes such as a porterhouse/rump steak or a lamb roast and cellar of up to twelve to fifteen years. 

Alc/vol. 13.5% | Bottle Price $35.00 | Add to Cart

Bull Run Cabernet Merlot                                                                                            

The fruit for this wine came from around the district as well as from Delatite, and was picked over the month of April. The nose shows strong fruit characters of ripe blood plums, blackberry and sweet redcurrants, together with some spice. Matured in three-year old French oak hogsheads for 10 months, this supple wine has fine lingering tannins and nice structure. Enjoy it now up to 2014.

Alc/vol. 13.5% | Bottle Price $15.00 | Add to Cart

Devil’s River 2008

Devil’s River is the name we gave to our Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Cabernet franc blend back in 1986. It’s normally harvested in April and May and up until a few years ago we sometimes had trouble getting it riper than 12-13 Baume – the resulting elegance and tightness in structure gives it some strong similarities to many wines from Bordeaux. It’s always been made from our local grapes and most of these vineyards, including our own, are cropped at between 3 and 6 tonnes per hectare. Normal flavours include different spices (such as cinnamon and cardoman), mint, plums, and blackberries along with some vanilla from the oak. Tannins are generally in the mid range and the only fining agents used are egg whites (organic and free range eggs, of course!). It’s matured in a mix of one to three-year old French and American barriques and hogsheads for up to15 months and now that it’s under screw cap the 2008 will cellar beautifully for up to twenty years +. 

Alc/vol. 14.0% | Bottle Price $29.00 | Add to Cart

Dungeon Gully Merlot Malbec 2008

A lovely blend that in 2008 is made up of Merlot and Malbec in equal volumes; as in the original blends of almost twenty years ago. The fruit comes entirely from our own vineyards and was picked over two weeks in mid to late April. The warm, berry characters of the Merlot combine with the dark blood plum and dry spiciness of the Malbec. The palate is of medium weight, with round fruit and tones of chocolate and vanilla. Cellar for up to ten years.

Alc/vol. 14.0% | Bottle Price $25.00 | Add to Cart 

Merlot Cellar Reserve  2010

The strong fruit characters of this wine meant that we were able to mature in French Oak Hogsheads for 18 months giving the wine further development and rich oak characters. The nose shows elegant but strong oak notes of warm tobacco and cedar with rich red berry characters. In the mouth the wine is firm. The palate covers with plum and blackberry fruit wrapped in mocha coffee oak flavours. This wine has the structure to age well for at least twelve years; over that time the fruit will give more leathery, earthy flavours and the tannins will further mellow and soften.

Alc/vol 14.5% | Bottle Price $45.00 | Add to Cart

Nebbiolo 2005

This is the fourth release of our Nebbiolo which is grown at a very cool site - the base of Mt Timbertop at the GGS Timbertop vineyard. Picked in late May 2005, the fruit was fermented in open tubs for 10 days then left on skins for 4 days, before pressing out to tank. It has deep red colour with brick hues, and the bouquet is a savoury combination of raspberry, stewed plum and violets with tones of tobacco and wild sage. The palate shows the same warm fruit characters, overlaid with grainy, but fine tannins and balanced with a good acidity. Matured in one to three-year old French hogsheads for 12 months, this wine will cellar well for 3-5 years. It goes beautifully with strong Italian influenced foods and meat dishes.

Alc/vol 13.5% | Bottle Price $12.00 | Add to Cart

Pinot noir 2009                                                                                                               

This fruit was all hand harvested and destemmed with 10% whole bunches added back to encourage some carbonic maceration characters. The must was cold soaked for a few days before being allowed to warm up and begin fermenting naturally with 'wild' yeasts. After fermentation it was pressed off skins and matured in french oak barriques for twelve months before racking and clarification with egg whites. The resulting wine has aromas of black cherries and plums while the palate shows hints of blackcurrants, cloves and black cherries balanced with fine but round tannins. Enjoy while young or allow to develop lovely earthy and gamey characters over the next six to nine years.

Alc/vol. 14.0% | Bottle Price $29.00 | Add to Cart

Pinot noir Reserve 2010

Pinot noir Rose 2009    SOLD OUT

The grapes for this wine were picked a week earlier than for our 'normal' Pinot in order to retain higher acidity and more lively fruit characters. It was crushed, chilled to 2 degrees and held on skins in the press overnight before being pressed to tank. It was then allowed to warm up and ferment with natural yeasts and a portion was fermented in barriques. It has winderful fruit aromas of strawberry and balck cherry while on the palate it has firmness and texture from both the wild and the partial barrel ferment. It has firm acid, is completely dry (as all serious rose should be!) and is a wonderful wine for a warm day or with sushi any old time.

Alc/vol. 13.5% | Bottle Price $15 | Add to Cart

RJ Cabernet Merlot Reserve 2008

Our RJ reserve blend is named after my father Robert John Ritchie who planted the original vineyard here in 1968. It’s only made in exceptional years and is always very limited. The 2008 is the first to be made from Shiraz and has a deep rich purple hue with a concentrated bouquet of ripe blackberries and blood-plums combined with herbal and spice tones. These strong characters continue on to the palate which has great breadth of flavour, balanced with fine-grained tannins and oak characters and it reward cellaring for a minimum of 15-12 years. It was bottled in February 2010 after 24 months in a mixture of French and American barrels. Production 1200 bottles.

Alc/vol. 14.0% | Bottle Price $60.00 | Add to Cart

Shiraz 2006

Our Shiraz has traditionally been from our own vineyard but since 2006 we’re mainly used fruit from the Steen’s vineyard at Strath Creek and this has enabled us to increase production from a few hundred cases to over a thousand in 2008. The flavours are similar and, despite the earlier ripening trends over the last few years, we’re harvesting the grapes in mid to late April. When young the typical aromas are of white pepper and eucalyptus and on the palate they show ripe red berry aromas, plums and cherries. The wine spends 12-14 months in a mixture of one to three year old French and American hogsheads and barriques which give the wines a spicy vanillin lift. The 2006 shows fine grain tannins and it can be enjoyed whilst reasonably young or cellared for up to 15 years.

Alc/vol 14% | Bottle Price $29.00 | Add to Cart

Tempranillo The Donald 2008

Named for our son Donald who helped plunge it during fermene and was very jealous that his sister had polly named after her!. The fruit was harvested in late March and fermented in small open fermenters and was hand plunged each day to aid extraction of colour and tannins through the fermentation period. It was then pressed off in our horizontal basket press and put to a mixture of French and American Hogsheads for malolactic fermentation and maturation. After twelve months of matuartion the wine was racked from barrels and given a minimal fining with organic free range egg whites to smooth off the rough edges of the wines tannin structure before minimal filtration and bottling. Our Tempranillo is a strong and robust wine with a nose of plums and blackberry and a palate of dark rich fruits overlayed with a wonderful dark chocolate element and firm masculine tannins that give the wine a firm but not overpowering grip. This wine is great while young but will mellow with age giving spicey and mushroom characters over five years.

Alc/vol. 12.5% | Bottle Price $29.00 | Add to Cart