This wine was inspired by the man of the people Ben "Bantsy" Loughman. He's a very very handsome man with impeccable music tastes and harder buns than a gluten-free bakery. Talking of handsome, this wine is a sort of origin story for Konpira Maru's own Sam Cook. We have combined the Riesling from the Aradale Vineyard in Ararat (the vineyard where Sam made his first commercial wine) and Vermentino from the Chalmers Family's Merbein Vineyard, the site where we made our first Konpira wine.
Sites: Aradale Vineyard, Ararat (Grampian Region), managed by Andrew Davey, and the Chalmers' Nursery Vineyard, Merbein.
Production: 80% Riesling from the Grampians and 20% Vermentino from the Murray Darling. Fermented as single varieties (in different parts of Victoria), both the Vermentino and Riesling spent 12 hours on skins in the press. They were then pressed long and slow over 8 hours to tank for natural fermentation. The Riesling was kept cool to retain freshness and clean lines, it was then settled and racked to tank. The Vermentino component was simply fermented through, racked off gross lees and then stirred regularly in the following months for some texture. The wines were then blended, spending the next 4 months in stainless steel. One further racking prior to bottling resulting in a touch a cloudiness. Bottled unfined and unfiltered with a small addition of sulphur.
