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ACellars Newsletter 5th May, 2022 - Hoddles Creek Tasting + All Good Things + This Week's Staff Pick

by Annandale Cellars

Missed the wine fair?

It's all good...

 

Thank you to everyone who joined us last weekend for our first wine fair of 2022. The sun (eventually) came out, and a good time was had by all. Covering all definitions of natural, from super clean to wierd and wonderful, our good natured reps poured over 60 natural wines available to taste on the day.

Whilst all good things must come to an end, the funky fun doesn't have to end just yet...

It is not too late to fall down the rabbit hole and explore the curiouser and curiouser potions of the natural world of wine.

Adventure into to this wierd wonderland of natural wines by exploring the collection below.

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In-Store Tasting

HODDLES CREEK ESTATE

This Saturday, May 7th

3pm - 6pm

 

Growing up surrounded by fine wines and long Italian lunches will teach you patience, passion, and an understanding that the best things in life might not be quite free, but are sourced from the best quality ingredients.

From viticulture to viniculture, the wines of Hoddles Creek Estate are sourced from the d'Anna family farm, and for Franco d'Anna, it is all about the best quality ingredients: the family's vines that grow on the steep slopes of the Upper Yarra Valley.

d'Anna started working in the family's Melbourne boutique liquor and grocery emporium at the tender young age of 13, and by 21 was the family business' chief wine buyer. Dabbling into the commerce world for his first bout of tertiary study, d'Anna's love of wine and the outdoors saw him later enrol in a viticulture degree.

It was the farm his family had held since the 1960s in Gembrook that inspired these studies. With a plan to return to the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines the family had planted in the late 1990s, d'Anna believed that the study of viticulture rather than viniculture would be essential in his desire to make good wine at Hoddles Creek. He sees the vineyard as king, the source of the good ingredients; the winery the place where the wines are just nurtured along. No doubt though, having Mario Marson of Mount Mary fame in the early days as winemaker certainly would have helped steer the young vigneron in the right direction, not to mention vintage in Gevrey-Chambertain, as well as Barolo to learn about tannin, and Sicily to learn about natural wine making, and the farming of steep slopes!

d'Anna still follows this philosophy to grow good fruit, ensuring all of his staff work both in the vineyard as well as the winery. The steepness of the slopes prevents access to machinery for pruning and harvesting, but d'Anna wouldn't have it any other way.

This purity of expression is the reason why the 2021 release of the Yarra Valley's star varietals Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, like many vintages before them, are sure to sell out.

Join us this Saturday in-store as we taste the Hoddles Creek Estate Chardonnay and Estate Pinot Noir.

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Staff Pick:

Domaine Ballot-Millot Bourgogne Chardonnay 2019

Powerful in its presence, yet fine and elegantly poised.

And speaking of mothers' day...

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