Translation missing: en.Passage Wines + Tasting this Saturday 3pm-6pm of La Calmette from Cahors!: Passage Wines + Tasting this Saturday 3pm-6pm of La Calmette from Cahors!
Passage Wines
Passage Wines is one of the best young projects started by Kaden Boekhoorn with his 2024 vintage. Based in the sub-region of Baw Baw Shire in Gippsland, Kaden focuses on distinctive dry-grown sites on cool volcanic hills to produce small batch wines of incredible intrigue and personality.
Kaden's background was actually in specialty coffee, and it was through this that he picked up an interest in wine, seeing parallels in the way that place, farming and fermentation affect the flavours and texture in the cup/glass. Working at a coffee shop in Melbourne, Kaden came into contact with Gippsland legends such as William Downie and Patrick Sullivan whose reflections on wine ignited his own interest, going on to help Downie for the 2019 vintage and working in the area since with many overseas excursions as well. Kaden makes wine with minimal intervention: wild fermentation without temperature control and sulphur used as needed. Wines mature for around 11 to 12 months in mostly used French oak, with a small portion of new oak for seasoning and texture rather than to impede the site's voice. After ageing in barrel, the wines are racked to stainless steel where they rest for another two to three months to settle before bottling under cork with a negative carbon footprint.
We've stocked these wines before but have recently picked up some new cuvees as well! The '25 'Pinot Gris' is a wine of amazing texture and complexity for a grape that usually doesn't produce the most compelling wines in the world. Definitely one of the finest expressions in Australia. The '25 'Rose' is a field blend of old-vine Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon and drinks like some of those slightly darker rose styles from southern France. Finally, the '25 'Pinot Noir' shows all the hallmarks of great Gippsland Pinot - light, silky and spicy. This is the last time this wine will be produced as Bass Phillip are taking it all now! Gippsland continues to prove itself as one of the most cutting-edge regions in the country - pick up some of these Passage Wines and find out why!
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La Calmette Tasting
Saturday 27th
3pm-6pm
Join us this Saturday as we taste through the enigmatic wines of La Calmette from Cahors!
Cahors is a region that most people are only vaguely familiar with (if at all) due to it being the origin of Malbec, but there is a whole world of unexplored terroirs, indigenous grape varieties and styles of wine to dive into.
La Calmette was established in 2015 by Maya Sallée and Nicolas Fernandez, having discovered via Fabien Jouves, a side of Cahors they didn’t realise existed. Maya grew up in Latin America, her father was at the forefront of fair-trade coffee in France, working directly with growers over 30 years ago. Nicolas, originally from Rioja, moved to the French Basque when he was young. With Oenology and agronomist degrees, they have travelled extensively and have experience working at Château Margaux, Opus One and Domaine Gauby in Rousillon.
La Calmette are located in Trespoux-Rassiels, on the limestone causses overlooking the village Cahors. Maya and Nicolas’s 10 hectares of vineyards situated on the plateau. The soils here are what make these wines truly remarkable, a mix of clay limestone, Kimmeridgian limestone and Siderolithic. Farming organically since their inception, the estate received organic certification in 2019, followed biodynamic certification in 2020. These are the wines that we'll be pouring on the day:
La Calmette Nyctalope Pet Nat 2022
La Calmette Resurgences Blanc 2022
La Calmette Serpent a Plume Rouge 2023
La Calmette Trespotz Rouge 2023
La Calmette Peau a Peau Rouge 2023
A line up wines from Cahors that includes a Malbec Pet Nat and a white wine is not something that comes around every day. Don't miss out on trying these special wines!