Awards and Accolades

2006 Vintage: 92 Points - Tyson Stelzer - Australian Wine Companion
"A blend of 70% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay, fermented slowly in tank and barrel. 7-8years on lees has built a bubblegum-like complexity that provides texture to taut, heightened Tasmanian acidity, leaving the finish firm and tangy. It will benefit from a few more years to soften, and has the persistence and integrity to go the distance."

2006 Vintage: 94 Points - Campbell Mattinson, Wine Front
"Announces its quality immediately on opening. Complex aroma and then excellent power of flavour. Wheat, honeycomb, wax, citrus. Builds and then runs through to a minerally finish. Beautiful."

From the Winery

Located in the prestigious maritime wine region of northern Tasmania at a latitude of 41° south, the cool coastal slopes of the Pipers Brook wine region and the east-southeast facing slopes of our Kreglinger Vineyard has produced a truly exceptional cuvee which has captured all the unique characteristics and expression of fine sparkling wine, utilizing the noble varieties of pinot noir and chardonnay, resulting in this outstanding Kreglinger Vintage Brut.

The cuvee for this wine is sourced from a specific sparkling vineyard. This site, known as the Kreglinger Vineyard, is based on basaltic soils and has distinctive east-southeast facing slopes. This aspect in the Pipers Brook wine region gives a ripening potential expressed in day-degrees summation of around 950–1050 day-deg C whilst retaining the ideal acid ratio of tartaric and malic acids and the distinctive natural low pH values and flavour purity. This site compares very favourably with conditions in the French wine region of Champagne (1030 day-deg C).

Grapes were harvested in early March with a baumé level of between 10 and 11 Bé, holding 13-15g/L of titratable acidity, of which nearly 40% was malic acid. Despite this high natural acid structure, the grapes have ripened fully and as a result have a restrained but intensely complete flavour profile and perfect balance as a base wine with low pH. The natural acidity of the grapes confers considerable ageing potential to the base wine.

The grapes are grown on narrow spaced vineyards (1.5-1.9m row spacing). The vines are vertically shoot positioned (VSP), hand pruned in winter and hedge trimmed in summer, hand grown and nurtured through ripeness ready for picking.

Crop Yields: A natural low yielding vintage of 4.5 – 5.5 tonnes/ha.

The grapes were all hand picked in small parcel lots and carefully transported to the nearby winery where they were delicately pressed within an hour of picking. Modern computer PLC controlled Bucher airbag presses are used with a modified champagne cycle, to produce around 450-550 litres per tonne of free run juice from the whole bunch pressed grapes. Only this pure free run juice (cuvee) component is used in the Vintage Brut. Base wines are fermented in both tank and some in barrel, and a small percentage was aged on lees until the tirage blend took place in the new calendar year, followed by the tirage. The wine was stored in a temperature controlled cellaring environment to enhance bottle fermentation and style evolution. The wine was disgorged in late 2010, followed by some time on cork prior to release.