Australian Wine Funky Labels Case

Good Luck Cabernet Sauvignon

The dual-facing label to shows either The Good Luck Club (front) or The Bad Luck Club (back) illustrated in that most animated of media: 19th Century Japanese Kabuki masks. It’s about the highs, lows, ayes and noes of winemaking, chance and the mad undulations of human existence.

The Smalltown block was purchased in 2016, 40 hectares of 28 year old Shiraz and Cabernet in the premium Ebenezer District of the Barossa Valley. This wine was aged in new and tertiary French oak for 24 months. The oak lends a subtle texture and structure to the fruit leaving the palate fresh so this is a bright, varietal Cab that wears its oak lightly as a structural veil rather than anything more monstrous

Summer pudding reaches from the glass, there is an abundance of blackberry and cassis fruit with a naughty creaminess of oak that marries on the palate for a bold pastiche of old vine Barossa Cabernet.
It’s a big glass of juicy theatre.
FOOD MATCH
It’s lovely with steak tartare, seared tuna, roast Mediterranean veg and some crunchy, matured hard cheese

Click here for more information about the winery

This is a partnership between Barossa Valley winemaker, Rolf Binder and UK wine merchant, Noel Young. Established in 1993 when Mourvèdre and Grenache were largely forgotten varieties, these two Rhône-philes have adapted that great larrikin of the Australian sky – the magpie – as their mascot. Driven by the desire to highlight the Barossa Valley’s rich resources of Rhône Valley varieties and to have a good laugh along the way, Magpie Estate claims Mourvèdre, Grenache and Shiraz as its own. The pair create a range of superbly crafted varietals and blends that collectively represent the many personalities and expressions of these three noble varieties in the Barossa.

To see our full range of Smalltown Vineyards’ products go to our website

Good Luck Cabernet Sauvignon

Next Big Thing Chardonnay

Prior to the production of this wine, it was with some delight that we learned demand for a good Aussie Chardonnay was on the rise again… hopefully the start of something massive. The label reflects word-of-mouth with a bunch of hipster types sharing the news of “The Next Big Thing”. This is a real vineyard find, proper stuff with bags of varietal appeal but a lovely texture too. Aussie chardonnay has made a strong comeback… and this is a cracking wine to start the revolution!
AMP040 Barossa Valley Barossa Valley, Australia
White 13% Screwcap
100% Chardonnay
HOW IT’S MADE
The grapes are hand harvested from an old block on the Binder Family Barossa Vineyards. Small batches of Chardonnay are picked and pressed through a tank press with some skin contact. 25% is
fermented in French puncheons and American hogsheads for six months, aged on lees then blended with the 75% unoaked juice, settled and bottled. Into the main Barossa blend a small component of Eden Valley Chardonnay is blended and the whole sees a tiny bit of secondary use oak for some fine structure.
TASTING NOTES
With the faintest whiff of biscuity oak this bright, tangy Barossa Chardonnay is an absolute delight. It has that classical Barossa charm, elegance, poise, tang and naggingly more-ish elusive something-orother which makes one wonder why there are not more Australian Chardonnay.

http://www.magpieestate.com for more information on the vineyard

To see our full range of Smalltown Vineyards products go to 

http://www.auswinesonline.co.uk/product-category/smalltown-vineyards/

Old Bean Truck White

A beautiful fruit driven wine with some guava, passionfruit and pieapple aromas. Gummy jube like flavours, and some toffee apple. Candy-Melon. Fresh, crisp and bright. Drink young.

Bright, fresh and light in alcohol, the Old Bean Truck white has guava, passionfruit and pineapple aromas and a slight waxy note. It has sherbet-like tingly acidity, with toffee apple and melon flavours. A straightforward, pleasurable wine, this is a McLaren Vale field blend mainly of Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling, made by the Osborn family.

From entry level to iconic, all d’Arenberg wines have been basket pressed, reds and whites, with all red ferments foot trod during fermentation.

Walking the vineyard rows and tasting grapes, Chester Osborn classifies and determines the ideal picking time for each individual vineyard.

Small batches of grapes are gently crushed, then transferred to five tonne headed-down open fermenters, all batches remain separate until final blending. The red wines are foot trod two thirds of the way through fermentation, and then basket pressed.

d’Arenberg is one of the only wineries in Australia to basket press both white wines as well as reds, making for a labour intensive process, but the quality of the results makes this worthwhile as the action is controlled and extremely gentle.

White wines are basket pressed before fermentation to ensure no colour or tannins are extracted from the skins, and the reds are pressed afterwards. After pressing, reds are transferred to barrel to complete fermentation, and then aged on lees to slow aging and keep the wine fresh, while also reducing oak influence.

All parcels remain separate until final blending, an extensive barrel tasting process is undertaken to determine the final wine. There is no racking until final blending, and the wines do not undertake fining or filtration prior to bottling.

To find out more about the d’Arenberg winery go to https://www.darenberg.com.au/

To see our full range of d’Arenberg product go to https://www.auswinesonline.co.uk/product-category/darenberg/

Old Bean Truck White – another great entry level wine from the d’Arenberg winery

The Unforgettable GSM 2018
South Australia

Larger than life and just a little bit fruity, The Unforgettable is the perennial life and soul of the party. But underneath the jovial facade lies a thoughtful, loyal chap who never forgets who his friends are.

Viticulture
The fruit for the 2019 comes from Langhorne Creek and from the Riverland. Langhorne Creek is often overlooked in favour of the more glitzy McLaren Vale and Barossa but it is a region with over 160 years history and some remarkable old vineyards. Situated on a flood plain close to the impressive Lake Alexandrina, our dry grown old Grenache vines produce tight bunches of well balanced, succulent fruit. Shiraz on a higher trellis system helps fruit health and balance. The Mataro is from old, trellised vines in South Australia’s Riverland.
Winemaking
Vinification, as one might expect with good fruit, is very simple. The Grenache was hand picked in early morning before arrival at the winery where it underwent a very gentle crush and then an open ferment with twice daily hand plunging. Extended time on skins post ferment was followed by pressing and then maturation in French oak. Additions of perfectly balanced Langhorne Creek Shiraz and old vine Mataro were made and the final blend achieved with the focus on bright, exuberant yet crunchy fruit. The wine spends 4 months in older French oak.
Tasting

The Unforgettable GSM is a generous blend of 3 varieties, all of whom are long-term friends that know the benefits of teamwork. Working in cahoots, they produce a wine with succulent red berry fruit with hints of spice and chocolate. A clever, friendly wine that is indeed truly Unforgettable.

Blend: Grenache 57%, Shiraz 30%, Mataro 13%
Alcohol: 14.5%

For more information on the winery go to https://www.wildandwilderwines.com/

To see our full range of Wild and Wilder wines go to https://www.auswinesonline.co.uk/?s=wild+and+wilder

The Opportunist Shiraz

Wild & Wilder is all about good clean fun. Working hand in hand with their merry (in a good season) band of growers, they craft wines of supreme quality but don’t take it all too seriously.

Great fruit, grown by great people and made with a lot of love by people that know that wine is all about the good times, delicious food and creating great memories. Founded by Giles Cooke MW & Fergal Tynan MW, who also make the Thistledown wines, the mundane is just not in their DNA. Being involved in every stage of the winemaking process from bud burst to bottle means that every bottle from Wild & Wilder is an experience you’ll want to try again.

Produced from fruit grown on properties owned by Langhorne Creek stalwarts, Brett Cleggett and George Borrett. Vines are 25 years old, VSP/ spur pruned, on red brown sandy loams with clay base, some quartz and limestone. Whole berries retained to preserve fruit quality and maximise fruit expression.

As for all of the wines, the fruit for the Opportunist is picked on the way up to ripeness rather than on the way down. This way they achieve freshness and energy but not at the expense of flavour. They retain as many whole berries as possible to increase vibrancy and succulence. Winemaking is simple and is followed by 8 months on oak to increase texture and varietal expression.

The Opportunist Shiraz
Vegan: Yes
Vegetarian: Yes

For more information on the winery look at https://www.wildandwilderwines.com/

To see our full range of Wild and Wilder wines go to https://www.auswinesonline.co.uk/product-category/wild-and-wilder-2/

Wild & Wilder is all about good clean fun. Working hand in hand with our merry band of growers, we craft wines of supreme quality at our Adelaide Hills winery, but we don’t take it all too seriously. Great fruit from Barossa, Langhorne Creek, Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills, grown by great people, and made with a lot of love by those that know that wine is all about good times, tasty food and creating great memories.

Smalltown Rag & Bone Riesling

The rationale behind this label is a quirky one! Our product manager found out that due to the tiny production of a particular wine, half the vineyard fruit was to be discarded….so he stepped in to say we would be interested to play with this other half given the quality of the wine over previous years. This lead to thinking about up-cycling the near-discarded, how one man’s trash is another man’s treasure etc and whilst humming over a potential moniker for the wine, God’s honest truth, a rag & bone van parked up outside his house calling for any old iron etc. Albeit a man in a white van, rather than horse & cart, the name stuck. The label reflects a collection of discarded items which together make up an eclectic assortment greater than the sum of its parts.

The nose classically expresses the vineyard… it’s like a fresh lime crushed gently over minerals… literally lime on the rocks. The palate is bright and zingy, singing with natural acidity and vibrant citrus and floral characters. Lovely delicacy and purity of fruit lifted and a crisp, bracing finish, an outstanding example of cool climate Aussie Riesling.

Eden Valley Riesling is prized for its vibrancy, purity and longevity and has produced many of Australia’s greatest Rieslings. The fruit for Rag & Bone is sourced from a single vineyard, high up on the Eastern side of Eden Valley. Warm days and cool nights ensure that the grapes develop ripe, intense fruit flavours whilst retaining appealing zing and acidity. The fruit was delivered to the winery immediately after harvesting in the cool hours of the morning, then processed very gently through our tank press. The juice was cold settled and 3 days later the clear juice was transferred into fermentation tanks.

Well suited to seafood dishes, spicy cuisine and anytime in the company of those who enjoy a quality
riesling! Try chilli prawns, green thai curry, fish and chicken laksa (with chilli, coconut, ginger and
lime).

Click here for more information about the winery

This is a partnership between Barossa Valley winemaker, Rolf Binder and UK wine merchant, Noel Young. Established in 1993 when Mourvèdre and Grenache were largely forgotten varieties, these two Rhône-philes have adapted that great larrikin of the Australian sky – the magpie – as their mascot. Driven by the desire to highlight the Barossa Valley’s rich resources of Rhône Valley varieties and to have a good laugh along the way, Magpie Estate claims Mourvèdre, Grenache and Shiraz as its own. The pair create a range of superbly crafted varietals and blends that collectively represent the many personalities and expressions of these three noble varieties in the Barossa.

To see our full range of Smalltown Vineyards’ products go to our website

Smalltown Rag & Bone Riesling