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Schmölzer & Brown + Domaine Duroché + Wine Fair + Frederick Stevenson Tasting Sat 21st 3pm - 6pm

by Annandale Cellars

Schmölzer & Brown

Vignerons Schmölzer & Brown came to fruition from the partnership of Tessa Brown, winemaker and viticulturist & Jeremy Schmölzer, architect. They planted their Thorley vineyard in the highest part of the Beechworth G.I. at 700m above sea level in 2014 and 2015 and they are currently working on building a winery and home which is off-grid solar panel powered.

Tessa and Jeremy farm their vines with organic methods in all but the most difficult years - they even make their own compost to spread under the vines. They make wines from Beechworth as well as King Valley. Everything labelled as "Thorley" is from their home vineyard. The Brunnen vineyard is a tiny parcel of vines owned by their neighbours, which they've been working with since 2014. The Obstgarten wines are from a mature, unirrigated Riesling vineyard toward the southern end of the King Valley and their Prêt-à-Blanc and Prêt-à-Rouge wines are blends assembled with an eye to easy drinking. All of their wines are made with hand-picked fruit and fermented with native yeasts with spontaneous malolactic fermentation. They don't fine their wines and only the whites are filtered with some sulphur used as needed.

We tasted with Jeremy the other week and bought in a few new wines as well as some top-ups of our favourites. Thew newest additions to the store are the '24 'King Valley Chardonnay', '25 'Tumbarumba Pinot Noir' and the '25 'Beechworth Merlot'. The Chardonnay had a great line of acid backed up with a strong core of fruit and healthy lick of oak, the Pinot is one of the best I've tried from Tumba with nice red fruits and spice and the Merlot is surprisingly interesting and fresh with a supple medium body. This is a Merlot for the "I am NOT drinking any f***ing Merlot!" crowd. We re-stocked our favourite off-dry Aussie Rieslings: the '24 'Obstgarten K' and the '24 'Obstgarten Selection' which look better each time we taste them. We've also got the '23 'Thorley Riesling', '23 'Thorley Chardonnay', '22 'Thorley Nebbiolo', '23 'Brunnen Pinot Noir' and '22 'Thorley Syrah'

 

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Domaine Duroché

Domaine Duroché is one of Gevrey-Chambertin's greatest estates that has flown under the radar for the most part until recently where the most Burg-savvy drinkers have clued in and now the secondary market prices have skyrocketed. This five generation-run Domain is located in the heartland of Gevrey-Chambertin in which they own choice plots of Pinot vineyards from village through to Grand Cru plots.

Pierre Duroché joined the Domaine in 2003 and gradually increased his responsibilities by taking over from his father until he eventually took over full control in 2009. Pierre's approach to making Pinot Noir is all about balance and harmony, something that is actually very difficult to achieve with such a finnicky grape. He works “lutte raisonnée”, meaning that no chemicals are used unless there is a strong disease pressure and the harvest is at stake. A lot of attention goes in to both the planning of the vineyard as well as optimal picking date to achieve a Pinot with optimal flavour concentration, acid and tannin. Pierre works the tannin with a delicate infusion rather than an aggressive extraction and only uses about 10%-20% new oak on his wines.

We've only got a couple of bottles of each of these amazing wines from the 2023 vintage. The '23 'Gevrey-Chambertin' is a blend of several lieux-dits from vines planted as far back as 1934 and only as recent as 1980. This wine is perhaps the best introduction to Pierre's work. The '23 'Gevrey-Chambertin Champ' comes from a 0.7 hectare plot of vines planted from 1969-73 and shows a bit more nuance and complexity than the standard village offering. Finally, we have a single bottle of the '23 'Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru' from their 0.41 hectare plot of old vines. If you know Burgundy, you know this is one of the best sites in the Côte de Nuits. Many people believe these wines are on par and often outperform legends such as Armand Rousseau! We only have tiny quantities so don't miss out!

 

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Wine Fair

Saturday March 21st

1pm - 5pm

Our first Wine Fair for 2026 is happening on the 21st of March. A must attend tasting for wine lovers.

It's that time of year again!


WINE FAIR TIME!

Our first Wine Fair of the year is happening on Saturday, 21st of March from 1-5pm!

For this wine fair, we’re slowing things down and going deeper. Each exhibitor will be pouring wines from a single producer, offering a chance to properly explore their range, philosophy, and style. Expect thoughtful tastings, great chats, and plenty of exciting bottles, all guided by the people who know these wines inside out.

We will be featuring wines from:

Commune Of Buttons

Cantina Orsogna

Les Fruits

Somos

Pyramid Valley

Vinea Marson

Basket Range Wine

Tenuta Mazzolino

Gentle Folk

and many more…


Tickets are $50 and include a Plum tasting glass to take home. On the day, enjoy 20% off any six bottles from the event (usually 15%), plus a free Annandale Cellars tote bag with any purchase of 6 bottles or more. A great excuse to stock up on your favourites.

 

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Frederick Stevenson Tasting

Saturday 21st

3pm - 6pm

Come down to the store this Saturday as we taste through a range of great wines by Frederick Stevenson!

Frederick Stevenson - the alias of winemaker Steve Crawford started in 2011 after initially wanting to be a chef but also wanting to travel and be outside. He studied viticulture and worked in vineyards across South Australia and many of the great regions of Europe. He aims to make wines of "texture and interest" and explore different styles of wine now that he believes the "big Barossa Shiraz isn't valid anymore in top restaurants." These are the wines that we'll be pouring this Saturday:

Frederick Stevenson Riesling 2024

Frederick Stevenson Bianco 2024

Frederick Stevenson Grillo 2024

Frederick Stevenson Pinata Red 2023

Frederick Stevenson Sangiovese 2024

Frederick Stevenson Montepulciano 2024

Don't miss out on our first tasting of the year!

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