VALHALLA WINES TWIXMAS POP UP - FOUR DAYS ONLY 27th-30th DECEMBER
We are popping back up in Rutherglen between Christmas in New Year. In between leftover ham sandwiches, the cricket and trying to remember what day it is - we would love to catch up with you to share some new wines, a spritz or two and of course there will be some vinyl on the turntable.
The Wicked Virgin (165 Hopetoun Road, Rutherglen).
Open 10-5
Call me on 0429330280 for further details
Three new wines are released - Riesling, Syrah & Cabernet Merlot
The 2025 Riesling has just been bottled and I cant wait to share it with you. This is from the amazing Croucher vineyard on the Whitlands Plateau, high above the King Valley. It's the fourth highest altitude vineyard in Victoria, super cool climate and the wine has beautiful limey fruit and a crisp finish, I'll be slurping this with grilled prawns all Summer.
2023 was a year of turmoil and intrigue for me (and the winery). The growing season was a mix of dry and yet cool weather, with a windy Spring leading to inconsistent flowering (yes, grapes do have flowers) and therefore reduced yields. For Valhalla, it meant that with little notice some of the fruit I was expecting to make into wine wasn't available, and at the same time I put myself out there and took on a few new projects like the Arneis, Pinot Gris, Syrah & Cabernet Merlot. Many of you have been enjoying the Pinot Gris & Arneis (which is nearly all sold out now). But these reds have needed time to come together and are just becoming available to the public now.
The 2023 Cabernet Merlot is a first for me and a nod to the wines I grew up drinking with my parents, and that I continue to raid from their cellar to this day. With the cooler year in the already cool climate of Beechworth yielded some classic characters for these natural sparring partners. The Cabernet brings blackberries, fresh tobacco, bay leaf & spice, whilst the Merlot brings plushness, mulberries and chocolate. Fine, silky tannins create a long and savoury palate fuelled by cassis and cedar flavours that linger in the mouth.
The Syrah is the culmination of years of winemaking and the interplay of site and year. I have been crafting Shiraz from Rutherglen for twenty years, with a yearning to play with fruit from a cooler climate, the chance to play at the edge a little. 2023 gave me that opportunity with a very cool year, but one of the warmer sites within the cooler area of Beechworth. I have stopped using the word Reserve on our new upper level wines, but have used the French name for this variety to pay an homage to its history, but also to show that sometimes Shiraz really is Syrah.
The wine showcases the cooler climate Shiraz fruit from Beechworth. This wine walks the tightrope of its ethereal nature with florals & lifted spice interplaying with the granite driven blue fruits & subtle savoury notes. Whole berries and bunches are part of the natural fermentation with hand plunging and careful crafting all the way through to produce this refined expression of Beechworth Syrah.
WINE REVIEWS
95 Points Durif Reserve 2021 - "Congratulations are in order. When it comes to Durif, the term 'reserve' can mean pushing the envelope. Instead, behold a wine of poise, engaging charm AND cellaring potential. Blueberry, cherry, plum, lavender, rosemary and hazelnut. Expansive and finely edged on the palate with an inviting core of lifted aromatics, fruit, chocolate and a touch of savouriness. Durif’s usually pesky grape tannins are in control, but not aggressively so. It's a subtle difference that allows something for now (drinkability) and something for later. Best of both worlds." Jeni Port, Halliday Wine Companion 2024.
94 Points Tempranillo Reserve 2021 - "This Rutherglen-based winemaker is exploring nearby North East Victorian regions for grape sourcing with great success. Tempranillo thrives in the Alpine Valleys and this is an excellent, well-priced example. Dark in colour and personality with a deep, spiced black cherry/plum fragrance with forest undergrowth, herbs and bay leaf. A subtle hand with oak gives full and lasting expression to the fruit and well-handled acid/tannin interplay. Well balanced. More, please!" Jeni Port, Halliday Wine Companion 2024.
92 Points Tempranillo 2022 - "A joven (early-drinking) style of tempranillo that rocks. A joy to drink with a keen emphasis on the brighter, fruitier, spicier side of the Spanish grape with dark cherry, plum, red licorice, rosemary and earth. Fruit surges and explores all the senses while tethered gently to fine, perky tannins. Dangerously drinkable." Jeni Port, Halliday Wine Companion 2024.
