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Moreau Naudet + Coates + Basket Range Wines Tasting this Saturday 3-6PM + MEET THE MAKER: Jean Bouteille Tasting on Wednesday 6th of May

by Annandale Cellars

Moreau Naudet

We've just received the long-awaited 2024 release from one of Chablis's most distinctive estates, Domaine Moreau Naudet. Stéphane Moreau was a disciple of Chablis legend Vincent Dauvissat, the eccentric Didier Dagueneau of Pouilly-Fumé (who had a hand in designing the labels) and Nadi Foucault, famed former winemaker of Clos Rougeard. Stéphane sadly passed away in 2016, but his wife Virginie has been at the helm ever since, continuing to produce some of the most distinctive wines in the appellation - "one of Chablis's finest estates", as William Kelley has it.

Moreau Naudet sit firmly outside the old austere, citrus dominated Chablis formula. Low yields and riper fruit produce wines that look more like the Côte de Beaune than the Yonne, made with techniques borrowed from the best of Chassagne and Puligny - ploughing, organic viticulture (uncertified by choice), hand harvesting, whole berry pressing, native yeast fermentation, natural settling, long slow elevage in large oak and minimal sulphur.

2024 was no easy vintage in Chablis. Virginie's vineyards copped seven hail strikes through the season and her Grand Cru Valmur came in at just 7 hl/ha, her smallest harvest since 2016. And yet she has crafted a sensational set of '24s, packed with classical Chablisien minerality and surprising density given the racier vintage.

The newly arrived '24 'Petit Chablis' comes from a single 2.5 hectare site on Kimmeridgian soils with vines aging 25-50 years, fermented spontaneously in 32-100hl vats. This sits in a different league from most Petit Chablis. The '24 'Chablis' is drawn from 30 different parcels across the appellation, gently pressed over four hours, native-yeast fermented and aged 20 months on lees - rare at this level and the source of the wine's mouth-coating texture and saline depth. We also still have some of the '23 'Chablis' (also in magnum), the '23 'Pargues Vieilles Vignes' from a lieu-dit that should have been classified Premier Cru if the site hadn't been abandoned during WWII, and the '23 'Forêts Premier Cru' for the cru drinkers. Moreau-Naudet sit on every serious somm and wine nerd's radar - don't miss out on one of Chablis's most distinctive houses!

 

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Coates

We've stocked Coates for as long as anyone in the shop can remember - longer than Pete, by some accounts - and they remain one of the most reliable producers we work with. Duane Coates recently became an MW and is further backed by a Master's in Oenology and cellar time at Château Demessey in Burgundy, Domaine François Villard in the Rhône and the Fladgate Partnership in the Douro, he applies a consistent empirical approach to every wine he makes - and the value, vintage after vintage, is hard to argue with.

The philosophy is anti-fashion in the literal sense. Natural yeast fermentation, no fining or filtration on the reds, no added tannin and no rushed releases. Where most commercial winemaking chases fruit-intensity and a bright, hazeless wine for the supermarket end of the trade, Duane builds in time and texture - savoury accents from native ferment, light deposits permitted in the bottle, and tannin balance from extended maceration rather than additions. He calls his own wines "soulful", which isn't a word the industry overuses, and the result is a range that builds bridges between Australian fruit-driven generosity and the savoury, complex profile of his Old World references.

We have a selection of his vast range back on the shelf. The La Petite Cuvée NV is a great-value Sparkling Red and surprisingly popular year round. The '25 'The Chardonnay' is extra special this vintage - the Reserve Chardonnay wasn't made, so that fruit has been declassified into this bottling, which makes it punch even further above its weight than usual. The '22 'The Pinot Noir' and '22 'The Syrah' are both charming, old world inspired reds in his savoury, structured style, and the '18 'The Shiraz Cabernet' has had time to settle in the cellar and is drinking beautifully right now. Some of the best value in the country from a producer worth knowing - don't sleep on these!

 

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Basket Range Tasting

Saturday 2nd of May

3pm - 6pm

Join us this Saturday as we taste through the new releases from Basket Range Wine - one of the most exciting young producers coming out of the Adelaide Hills.

We've tasted Sholto Broderick's wines multiple times over the last couple of years and they're getting more impressive with every passing vintage. These are wines that are starting to sit alongside Gentle Folk at the top of the tree of modern Adelaide Hills producers carving out their own spot, and Sholto is one of the winemakers we think will help propel the region further onto the global stage. He deserves a lot more attention than he currently gets, and as he evolves as a winemaker we all get to taste the benefits.

Sholto's winemaking story starts in 2015, when he began his viticulture and oenology degree at Adelaide University, and by 2016 he was making his first wines off the family site - a Pinot Noir, a Cab-Merlot blend, and a field blend of Pinot, Petit Verdot, Merlot and a touch of Saperavi. The same year, he travelled to Southern France to work a vintage with natural wine producer Mylène Bru near Corbières - a formative experience whose combination of meticulous attention to detail and low-intervention winemaking still shapes his approach today. Everything is farmed organically, and beyond small sulphur additions on some cuvées there are no additions in the cellar.

Sholto's father Phil planted the family's first vines in the Basket Range back in the 1970s, started the Basket Range Wines label in 1988 and later replanted a neighbouring orchard site with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and (across most of the 12.5 hectares) Pinot Noir - the fruit source Sholto is now working off.

Sholto has been showing us his new releases as they come out over the last couple of years, a humble character who lets the wines do the talking. These are the wines that we'll be pouring on the day:

Basket Range 'Hills' Chardonnay 2025

Basket Range 'Estate' Chardonnay 2024

Basket Range Rosé 2025

Basket Range 'Banksia' Pinot Noir 2025

Basket Range 'Estate' Pinot Noir 2024

Basket Range 'Bantam' Red Blend 2024

Basket Range 'Estate' Cabernet Blend 2023

See you there!

 

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MEET THE MAKER
Jean Bouteille

Wednesday 6th of May

5:30 - 7:30

Jean Bouteille Wines is a project established by French original, Jean-Baptiste Courdesses in 2019 after accumulating years of experience around the globe working in various fermentations, farming & hospitality fields. This is a small scale winery based in Basket Range, Adelaide Hills that makes wines by hand from organically farmed grapes using regenerative practices in both the winery and vineyard. Any grapes that Jean purchases are also purchased from like minded viticulturalists to craft wines from only the highest quality grapes. Jean's wines reflect their respective landscapes and varietal characteristics with winemaking decisions made based on intuitive reaction and natural instinct.

JB will be here as part of his "Grand Tour" to debut his new releases from the 25' vintage and will be showing the following wines:

Traverses 2025 Chardonnay

Maar Red Blend 2025

Machina 2025 Tempranillo  

Brisures 2025 Gamay

Bâtard 2025 Trousseau

Mont Rouge 2025 Pinot Noir

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