Translation missing: en.Annandale Cellars Wine Fair November 15th 1pm-5pm + Mount Mary + Sylvain Pataille + Longarico Tasting Saturday 8th 3pm-6pm: Annandale Cellars Wine Fair November 15th 1pm-5pm + Mount Mary + Sylvain Pataille + Longarico Tasting Saturday 8th 3pm-6pm
Annandale Cellars
Wine Fair
Saturday 15th
1pm-5pm
The event that we've all been waiting for is here - the last Annandale Cellars Wine Fair of the year!
The Annandale Cellars wine fair is the perfect opportunity to try a range of great wines from around the world and to have a great time on a Saturday afternoon!
You will be able to taste excellent producers such as: Matthieu Barret, Rovellotti, Elanto, Max Ferdinand Richter, Stoney Rise, Forjas del Salnes, Mazzolino, De Fermo, Bande Apart, Sentio, Olivier Horiot, Robert Moncuit, Villa Bucci, Scarpa, Mastroberardino, Vincent Couche, Domaine de Montbourgeau and many more!
Purchase of a ticket will get you entry to the event for the full 4 hours where you can taste as much as you like as well as your own Riedel glass to take home!
Any purchases of 6 bottles from the Wine Fair will earn you a tote bag and a 20% discount off the single bottle price - an even bigger discount than our usual 15% case price.
These events are always a great time so get in quick with your tickets before they sell out!
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Mount Mary
Mount Mary is one of Australia's most iconic producers that I'm sure needs no introduction. Established in 1971 by John and Marli Middleton, Mount Mary is a family owned, single vineyard estate located in the heart of the Yarra Valley. Inspired by the great wines of France, they wanted to make elegant, low alcohol wine from French varieties. It occurred to John that Australia had not yet been able to produce a refined and elegant Cabernet (an idea suggested to him by Colin Preece, head winemaker at Seppelts Great Western), and he thereafter dedicated his efforts into doing so.
Although not officially certified organic or biodynamic, Mount Mary are heavily focused on sustainable viticulture - improving soil health and the environment around them. To help with this vision they adopt many viticultural practices including spreading compost in order to manipulate the soil microbiology and increase soil organic matter, along with spreading small amounts of organic fertilisers as well as mulching undervine with straw to increase soil water retention in some blocks. More than half of the land at the estate is not dedicated to viticulture with the long-term goal of being self-sufficient in both energy and water. The revegetation areas are already attracting more native birds and they are making great progress in collecting a variety of native seeds for propagation. They minimize the use of machinery in the vineyard in order to reduce the amount of soil compaction within the vine row. Cover crops are sown down every alternate row which helps to increase soil organic matter, improve soil structure and provide a home for the many beneficial insects which play an important role in pest management.
As for the wines that we have in stock, we brought in the 4 classic estate wines from the excellent 2023 vintage and have already sold all of the Pinot Noir. We have half a dozen of the '23 'Triolet' - a blend of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle inspired by the great whites of Graves, Bordeaux. It doesn't seem right to use the word underrated for a wine made by one of the most well-known and respected producers in the country, but this is considered by wine nerds like us to be one of the best white wines of the country with an absurd capacity to age. All grapes are picked at optimal ripeness and fermented separately in wood with some lees stirring and aged in barrel for about 11 months. We have the '23 'Chardonnay' which easily deserves its spot as one of the best Chardonnays in the country. This is aged in 30% new oak and the remainder in old wood and larger casks for a total of 11 months. Finally, we have the '23 'Quintet' aptly named as it is a symphony of 5 varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. This spends 22 months in barrel with 25% of the blend in large-format oak, 30% in new barriques and the remainder in 2-5 year old barriques. This is a wine reminiscent of the classic claret style of 70s Bordeaux and has a fantastic ability to improve with age. These are some of the most sought-after wines in the country for a reason, don't miss these as we only have a few bottles of each!
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Sylvain Pataille
Sylvain Pataille is one of the most respected figures in all of the Cote d'Or - someone that leading Burgundy expert Jasper Morris calls “extraordinary oenologist turned vigneron”. Sylvain manages not only his 17 hectare Domaine, but also consults to many of the best producers in the region. Sylvain was born and bred in the village of Marsannay in which his great grandfather was a winemaker and spent much of his childhood amongst the Marsannay vineyards. Studying at Beaune's Lycée Viticole, Sylvain shared a classroom with the likes of Benjamin Leroux, Olivier Lamy, Nicolas Rossignol and Pierre-Yves Colin before continuing study in Bordeaux. Now Sylvain makes some of the most compelling wines from the underrated village of Marsannay and some of the greatest single-vineyard Aligoté on the market!
Perhaps Sylvain's biggest calling with his Domaine (and as a consultant) is restoring the honour of Aligoté to its rightful throne. Sylvain was the first vigneron to seek out old-vine parcels of the pre-clonal Aligoté Doré cultivar grown in great, rocky terroirs which would become the foundation of his Domaine's offering. He prunes Aligoté short, restricting yields to 30 hl/ha, cultivates the vineyards by horse and harvests only ripe berries. As far as being ahead of the curve goes, Sylvain was certified organic in 2008 and practicing biodynamics since 2015, an early adopter of higher density plantings, Poussard-inspired pruning, tressage and using only low-yielding root stocks. In the cellar, he employs long and slow ferments of generally whole bunches with wild yeasts and minimal sulphur. All of Sylvain's hard work has helped put Marsannay on the radar of the best Burg-buyers and has arguably kicked off the recent Aligoté hype train.
We've already sold some of these amazing wines but still have some left over for those who have had their interest piqued. The '22 'Bourgogne Aligoté' is the only Aligoté composed of blended parcels and offers a great snapshot into the Domaine house style. The '22 'Champ Forey Aligoté' comes from 0.3 hectare plot of vines planted between 1932-1961 on gravelly limestone soils facing east at 25m above sea level whereas the '22 'La Charmes Aux Pretes Aligoté' comes from a 0.17 hectare plot of east-facing old vines at slightly higher altitude on marly soils that brings a distinct smoky/reductiveness to this cuvee. The '22 'Marsannay Chardonnay' is a rare white made of multiple parcels that ages for 18 months in 600L barrels with a touch of new wood. From Sylvain's reds, we have the '22 'Bourgogne Rouge' composed of multiple parcels including some old vines and the '22 'Marsannay Rouge' made from vines that are no younger than 40 years old, 80% whole bunches and aged in used barriques and demi-muids. The '22 'Marsannay En Clemengeots' comes from a nice gently sloping site with lots of old vines in the mix and ages for 24 months in mainly used wood. Finally, the '22 'Marsannay L'Ancestrale' comes from his oldest vines, ferments with 100% whole bunches and ages in the highest percentage of new oak at about 50% as the wine has the density to match it. This wine is probably the best in the village and incredibly rare. These are some stunning wines from one of Burgundy's most forward-thinking vignerons - snap these up!
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Longarico Tasting
Saturday 1st
3pm-6pm
Join us this Saturday as we taste through the exciting wines of Sicily's Longarico!
Luigi Stalteri studied engineering at university but quickly realised that his passions lie elsewhere, opening a wine bar and eventually moving down to Sicily to make wine. He team up with the legendary Alessandro Viola in 2015 to start the Longarico label with Alessandro eventually leaving in 2022 knowing that Luigi was in full control. Luigi’s winemaking philosophy is rooted in minimal intervention and respect for the vineyard. Fermentations are spontaneous, with limited use of sulfites, and wines are aged on fine lees to build texture and complexity. He avoids filtration to preserve the living character of the wine, seeking to express the purest sense of place, vintage, and grape variety.
These are the wines that we'll be pouring on the day:
Longarico All'Ombra dei Pini Metodo Classico 2022
Longarico Nostrale Catarratto 2023
Longarico All'Ombra dei Pini Catarratto 2022
Longarico Catartico Catarratto 2021
Longarico Insolito Rosso 2022
These are some fresh and exciting wines from one of Sicily's hottest prospects - don't miss out on this!
Wishing you a great week from the team: Chris, Pete and Aaron.