Flawlessly Flawed Wine Pack Explainer
Thanks for supporting our Flawlessly Flawed wine pack. This is a little background on why we have them and what may be in your pack...
Why do we have them?
(1) We started making minimal intervention wine in 2013, and still do nearly everything in-house. Only some of our larger wines for our main label are bottled off-site with a bottling line. The rest is all done, by hand, by us. The same goes for the production of our petillant naturel (pet nat; natural sparkling wines). A very labour intensive wine style with no shortage of frustrations attached! Because of all this we get a surplus of a couple of things, wines with incorrect or damaged labelling, wines without labels because we ran out (they are expensive to print short runs), wines we made in collaboration with restaurants/retailers where we made too much, wines left over from export orders, AND FINALLY, prototype wines we make as we develop new styles.
(2) We began with the mission to make wines affordable enough to have on a Wednesday night with pasta. That was genuinely why we started! So having a less expensive offering helps keep this mission alive. It's actually very important to us.
(3) Can utilise small runs of left over bottles that build up over time and often just get sent to landfill in most wineries (this is why the wines can come in an odd combination of bottles).
What's in your pack?
Hopefully a fairly exhaustive list of what is in your pack, and why it is.
Pet nat labelled as Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay (and possibly also Pinot Noir)
This is the basis of both our MK Rose and Chevaucher l'Eclair Pet Nat and is sourced from a beautiful vineyard high up on the Whitlands Plateau, NE VIctoria. This was a late disgorged parcel of pet nat from 2021 that was going to a bottleshop, but they didn't make it through COVID. Strikingly intense wine, with great Fanta vibes, best cold with cold cuts. A proper pet nat this.
Chilled Red 2022
This is a straight Sangiovese from the King Valley. We blend it with a rose for our Square Root of Five, but this was an early pressed red portion that I liked too much to blend. As it ages my preference is to have only slightly chilled with pizza or lamb.
Textural White 2023
This was truly my discovery of the vintage. A direct pressed Sagrantino (a red variety) blended with vermentino to make a really textural and apricot aromatic blanc. The acid in this comes from a wee bit of zesty riesling added. The bronze tint is from the bit of pigment carried over from the quickly pressed Sagrantino. We'll be making this one again for sure. Grapes were sourced from NW Vic.
Sagrantino Rose 2023
This is the partner wine to the Textural White, made from the same parcel of grapes but less Vermentino and about 20% King Valley Dolcetto Rose added to it.
High Plains Pinot Noir 2022
A very Pinoty Pinot from high up in the mountains of the NE, this is a big Pinot we make but without any oak treatment. For the Pinot lovers, also great chilled.
The Orb Riesling
Firstly a love the name of this one, named after the seminal electronic group obviously. It made me think of them because it is from a vineyard high up in the clouds and they have the song Fluffy White Clouds. Anyway... we make this in our popular Pan Opticon Riesling Pinot Gris Gewurz blend, but this was left over after I loaded the main wine off to get bottled. Normally this portion gets wasted, but because of you guys it isn't! So sort of the grippier portion. Was also a great use of a heap of old bottle stock and corks that normally get thrown out. A great waste.
Over and Over Pinot Noir (French Label)
This was going to Quebec but the order changed due to the Goverment monopoly system over there but it had already been labeled.
Pan Opticon Riesling Pinot Gris Gewurz
I damaged some caps when I was moving the boxes around! They are just dented.
Estate Pinot Noir
Lucky to get this one! It is from our vineyard in Whitlands. Ran out of labels!!!