CURATED WINE COLLECTION RELEASE

Curated_shiraz_austins_boomgallery

Boom Gallery X Austin’s Collaboration

Boom Gallery and Austin’s Wines have a long history as The Austin’s have been avid art collectors over the years and love to support our local art community.  You will often see our wines at Boom Gallery exhibition openings.   

In honour of our 10-year relationship, this year we have decided to launch The Curated wine collection on Friday the 17th of June.  

 Austin’s x Boom Curated is a small-batch collection of wines crafted by Austin’s Head Winemaker Dwayne Cunningham in collaboration with specially selected Boom Gallery Artists.   

Our first release includes labels by the uber talented Shane Drinkwater, our Riesling fan who is often inspired by the way in which farming creates line and texture in a landscape and how this is perceived from above. For our shiraz, we have commissioned Jasmine Mansbridge who shares our passion for red wine and the techniques used in the process of making wine.  

Our ‘off-dry’ Riesling and ‘concrete egg’ Shiraz have been ‘curated’ using premium fruit parcels that are carefully chosen and crafted using a selection of techniques-both traditional and non-traditional – chosen by the winemaker to create wines that are premium, unique, and small batch. 

The original artworks created for the labels are now available for auction. A fantastic way to support local art and get an original piece to treasure.

Curated Off-Dry Riesling

Dwayne Cunningham, Austin’s Head Winemaker worked in the Rheinhessen region in Germany and got to explore a bunch of Rhein and Mosel German Rieslings. Dwayne says, “I became intrigued with the sweetness and acidity balance that a number of those wines can take, with lovely natural acidity and flavour balanced with weight and texture from residual sugar. The 2021 Riesling showed really concentrated flavour and acidity, something that I haven’t seen in a lot of Riesling’s planted here. I thought it would be the perfect time to create an Off-dry Riesling for Austin’s, with balanced sweetness and acidity that pairs perfectly with food. A sophisticated, delicate wine that encapsulates our vineyard and would be perfect whilst snacking on a charcuterie cheese board at our wonderful Cellar Door”

Silver Medal by Halliday Wine Companion

“An off-dry style of riesling that has nicely managed the tricky balancing act between acidity and sugar, producing a charming, delicate wine. These forces play off each other, bringing a luscious sheen to the stone fruits, citrus, lime cordial and orange-peel spice flavours with a clean acid cut. Chalky, musky, sweet florals to close.”

-Jeni Port, 04 April 2022 92 Points Silver

Curated Riesling Wine Making Notes

Moorabool Valley estate grown riesling. 4.9 acres of North/South planted Riesling, on a steep decline from the most elevated aspect of the entire vineyard. Machine harvested at night, gently pressed and cold settled. Fermented in stainless steel at cold temperatures, before being halted once the ideal balance between sweetness, flavour and acidity was reached. Kept cold and safe before filtration and bottling.

DRINK BY: 2026
BLEND: 100% Riesling
ANALYSIS: 11.5% Alcohol
QUANTITY: 3600 bottles
WINEMAKER: Dwayne Cunningham

Artwork by Shane Drinkwater

The first release of these award-winning wines includes labels by the talented Shane Drinkwater, a Riesling fan who finds inspiration in the patterns and textures of farm land topographies.

You can bid on the original artwork here

Curated Shiraz

This Curated Shiraz is a sophisticated wine. New winemaking territory has been explored by Dwayne Cunnimgham, Austin’s Head Winemaker; created from our finest hand-picked fruit parcels and using a combination of 600L concrete eggs, 20% whole bunches, wild ferment and maturation in both new Croatian barriques and seasoned French barriques (50% new) for 8 months. 
This has resulted in a lighter style shiraz,  a true cool-climate representation of this versatile grape. A wine that is a mix of the savoury and the sweet-fruited, the textural and the earthy dry. Dark cherry, cherry liqueur, cassis, dried herbs, smokey charcuterie and leathery, spicy oak.

Wine Making Notes

This premium block of Shiraz was hand-picked at 13.5 Be’ and de-stemmed into 2 x 600 litre concrete eggs. 20% whole bunch was included in each ferment. Wild fermentation, with one gentle plunge per day. Left on skins in the concrete eggs for 21 days total, before gently pressing into 2 x New Croatian barriques and 2 x 1 year old French barriques(50% new oak). Matured in oak for 8 months before blending and bottling.

DRINK BY: 2030
BLEND: 100% Shiraz
ANALYSIS: 13.5% Alcohol
QUANTITY: 1200 bottles
WINEMAKER: Dwayne Cunningham

Gold Medal – Halliday Wine Companion

RATED 95 points, GOLD, Jeni Port, Wine Companion

Hand-picked fruit, de-stemmed into 600L concrete eggs, 20% whole bunches, wild ferment, 21 days on skins, maturation in new Croatian barriques and seasoned French barriques (50% new) for 8 months. Some new winemaking territory visited here, exploring the role of whole bunches, concrete eggs and Croatian oak, amongst other things, and the result is an intriguing mix of the savoury and the sweet-fruited, the textural and the earthy dry. Dark cherry, cherry liqueur, cassis, dried herbs, smokey charcuterie and leathery, spicy oak broaden our interpretation and appreciation of Geelong shiraz in an exciting way.

Jeni Port, Wine Companion

Using Concrete Eggs to Ferment Shiraz

Ferments in our concrete eggs deliver a real roundness and different palate structure. I am aiming for mouthfeel, texture and hopefully gather a hint of slaty tannin. The finished wines that are fermented generally show more of that vivacious Cab Mac character, but also show some subtle stalk character. Historically I have seen less of the green herbaceous stalk character aromatically than wines fermented in stainless steel with similar proportion of whole bunch.

Artwork by Jasmine Mansbridge

For the shiraz label, Jasmine Mansbridge, who shares our passion for red wine and the techniques used in the process of making wine, has created a design that references dreamscapes.⁠

You can bid on the original artwork here

Original Artwork Auction


⁠Two incredible original paintings by Australian artists Shane Drinkwater and Jasmine Mansbridge have been created for ‘The Curated’ @austinswines x @boomgallery limited edition series of wine.⁠

These two artworks have been used for the award winning, limited-edition ‘Off-Dry’ Riesling and ‘Concrete Egg’ Shiraz.⁠

The featured original artworks by @shane_drinkwater and @jasmine_mansbridge will be auctioned off in a wonderful artwork and wine package, with bidding opening at 6pm on Friday, June 17th and concluding at 11:59pm on Thursday, June 30th.⁠

Bid here: https://airauctioneer.com/the-curated-austins-wine-x-boom-gallery

Leave a Reply