The Season's Turn

Fiano is a white Italian grape variety that is grown primarily in the Campania region of southern Italy and on the island of Sicily. It has been introduced to the Great Southern region in more recent years and the 2025 growing season delivered ideal conditions for this variety. Spring and summer offered consistent temperatures with very little rain, encouraging full ripe fruit flavours before a slightly early harvest.

The fiano fruit was picked at dawn on 5 March 2025. The fruit was sorted and gently pressed. The juice underwent a long and slow cold fermentation in a stainless-steel tank immediately after pressing to preserve the natural fruit characters. When the wine had completed its fermentation, it was racked off its lees. The purpose of this approach is to maintain the subtle textures and crisp finish. The wine was prepared for bottling in September 2025.

Chardonnay is very well suited to the cool climate environment of the Great Southern wine region. The chardonnay vineyards in this part of Western Australia tend to ripen very slowly, due to the cooler climate, and develop complex flavours while also retaining an elegant natural acidity. The combination of all these elements provide for a lovely balance between richness and vibrancy.

The 2025 season offered consistent temperatures and very little rain, resulting in the chardonnay fruit displaying strong varietal character and great concentration of flavours.

The fruit was harvested in three separate parcels on 26 February, 5 March and 11 March. In each instance, the parcel of fruit was chilled overnight and then fermented in Burgundian oak barriques (approximately 25% new and 75% aged). The chardonnay barrels were lees stirred weekly for the first four months and then left to settle in barrel for a further two months before being prepared for bottling in October 2025.

The pinot noir grape variety is well suited to the high-altitude and cool climate environment of the Porongurup subregion of the Great Southern. The Quin vineyard is on the northern slopes of the Porongurup range at approximately 300m above sea level. This established vineyard showcases a more delicately styled expression of pinot noir. It is grown on granitic gravel loam soils and benefits from a cool microclimate without much rainfall due to the rain shadow effect of the Porongurup Range.

The 2025 growing season was steady with modest rainfall. Mildly elevated temperatures led to a slightly earlier start to harvest. Pinot noir was the standout variety in 2025, benefitting from the early harvest date helping to preserve natural acidity whilst achieving optimum flavour.

The fruit was picked on 16 March 2025. A parcel was gently de-stemmed and pressed into a small open fermenter, with another parcel chilled overnight, then de-stemmed and gently pressed with some whole bunches added. After fermentation the wine went to French (Burgundian) oak barriques (approximately 30% new, the remainder one year old), and was matured for eleven months before it was prepared for bottling.

Great Southern shiraz typically exhibits a compelling combination of juicy red berries, plum, pepper and spice aromatics and flavours. The cooler climate of the region produces a more elegant, food friendly style when compared with better known bolder shiraz styles of Australia’s warmer regions.

The grapes were picked on 28 March 2025 and crushed to stainless steel tanks where they underwent a very gentle maceration over a twelve day period. The must was then pressed and the wine was transferred to oak (a combination of new and second use French oak barriques) for twelve months before it was prepared for bottling

This wine is a sophisticated expression of sauvignon blanc made in the traditional Bordeaux style of the Pessac-Léognan / Graves subregions. The name - Fumé Blanc - is now widely used to describe oaked sauvignon blanc dominant wines. The fruit is from the Chester Pass vineyard in the Albany subregion of the Great Southern. One of the most southerly vineyard sites in Western Australia, the tempering effect of the Southern ocean provides ideal conditions to grow sauvignon blanc expressing full varietal flavours.

The fruit was picked on 10 March 2026. It was crushed, with the free run juice sent to a stainless-steel tank. When the juice had settled, cultured yeasts were introduced and once fermentation had started the juice was transferred to new Bordeaux oak barriques to complete the fermentation in oak. After fermentation, the wine stayed in barrel and on its lees for four months before being prepared for bottling.

This approach balances the fruit’s delicate aromatics and purity with the trademark spice, texture and palate weight of barrel fermented sauvignon blanc. It produces a sophisticated, food friendly style.

This is an elegant, dry, Provence styled rosé produced from the Mediterranean varietal sangiovese. We have found the Mediterranean varietals to be well suited to this style of rosé where balancing fruit flavours, savouriness, natural acidity and colour are all important factors to producing premium rosé.

The sangiovese grapes were picked on 19 March 2025. The parcel of fruit was brought to the winery and gently destemmed and crushed directly into the press with approximately two hours of skin contact occurring prior to a gentle pressing.

The free run juice was handled oxidatively and remained on full solids for two days before rough racking and the introduction of an indigenous yeast to initiate fermentation, with 10% of the wine fermented in 3-year-old oak barrels. Following a slow and cool fermentation, the wine was rested on its lees for four months prior to final blending and preparation for bottling.