Austin’s Cuvee 2017

Tasting notes

Appearance: pale straw tones with a refined mousse and lasting bead.

Nose: fresh and fragrant notes of white linen and a hint of lemon zest.

Palate: a finely constructed palate with an interplay of acid, sweetness and nuanced flavours that echo the nose and finish crisp and clean.

Food pairing

• Canapés
• Ceviche and seafood
• Hams and lighter meats

While you can’t go past sparkling and canapés to begin an evening, we also recommend pairing our cuvée with dishes such as king fish ceviche and seafood. It’s also perfect with lighter meats such as your festive season ham.

Award winning cuvée

• Huon Hooke, The Real Review- 91/100 SILVER
• Australian Sparkling Challenge – Bronze

Why Moorabool Valley for Cuvée

The Moorabool Valley produces wines of great power and concentration with precise varietal definition and deft balance.

Continental in nature, we’re close to the Southern Ocean and dry in summer. The cool climate gives our wines full ripeness and beautiful finesse.

Moorabool Valley has a rich history, with ancient volcanic soils containing a tough limestone and basalt base. This gives the sub-region its unique terroir and provides the ideal free-draining soil for our grapevines.

The Austin’s Vineyard

Austin’s has been located in the heart of the Moorabool Valley since 1990, a cool climate wine region steeped in rich history. Nestled between Geelong & Ballarat, the Moorabool Valley’s small, family run vineyards provide rich and intense low yield fruit, an ideal terroir for producing award-winning wines.

The Austin’s Estate is across 1,500 acres, with 150 under vine. The land boasts rich volcanic, limestone soils and a terrain that sits in a rain shadow.

Sitting on the ocean floor some 20,000 years ago this land has been reclaimed by millennia of volcanic activity. Geelong’s Moorabool Valley sub-region has a tough limestone and basalt base. This gives the sub-region its unique terroir and provides the ideal free-draining soil for our grapevines.

Moorabool Valley’s cool climate is continental by nature but still moderated by its proximity to the ocean. This provides perfect conditions to grow world-class wines. All vines are planted north–south and trained vertically. The canopies are managed to provide enough light and air into the fruit zone to maximise vine quality and health.

Careful irrigation during the growing season to maintain healthy vine growth for even ripening which is the key to quality fruit.

Read more about the Moorabool Valley region here.

Vinification

The growing season of 2016/17 was an ideal year to make this cuvée sparkling wine. We only create this wine in years where the fruit is optimal for a sparkling base. We only produced 600 bottles, making it an in-demand limited-edition variety. Made using the traditional method, the wine is fermented in bottle over two years.

The chardonnay and pinot noir were both harvested on 23 February 2017 and blended for the impressive sparkling wine numbers; 20.7 brix, 11.5 g/L TA, 3.16 pH.

After handpicking, fruit was loaded as whole bunches into the press and gently squeezed. The juice was racked to aged oak puncheons for fermentation and left for 22 weeks.

It was then racked to tank, stabilised and filtered before tirage bottling in September for the second ferment. The bottles were stored at 15ºC to enhance the mousse and bubble size. After 22 months the bottles were riddled and disgorged in July 2019.

After handpicking, fruit was loaded as whole bunches into the press and gently squeezed to yield 600 L/tonne. The juice was racked to aged oak puncheons for fermentation and left for 22 weeks. It was then racked to tank, stabilised and filtered before tirage bottling in September for the second ferment. The bottles were stored at 15ºC to enhance the mousse and bubble size. After 22 months sur lie^* the bottles were riddled and disgorged in July 2019 with a very light addition of liqueur.

*Wondering what we mean by sur lie? It’s from the French ‘on the lees’. This means the wine remains in contact with the dead yeast cells rather than being racked or filtered. This enriches the wine and gives it the lovely toasty flavours you’d expect from cuvée sparkling.

Season

The growing season of 2016/17 was subject to wild weather fluctuations, yet the Moorabool Valley held steadfast throughout. Summer and autumn were generally warm but a few above-average rainfall events ensured happy, healthy vines. There was minimal disease pressure due to the windy, well-drained nature of the Moorabool Valley. The chardonnay and pinot noir were both harvested on 23 February 2017 and blended together for the impressive sparkling wine numbers; 20.7 brix, 11.5 g/L TA, 3.16 pH.

Shipping

We know you’d love to be drinking your wine as soon as possible. That’s why we will dispatch your order within 24 hours of your placing it.*

We are located in the Moorobool Valley, Victoria. We use either a courier, Fastway or Australia Post depending on the location. Orders are picked up our orders every afternoon at 3pm. Once fulfilled, you will receive an email confirming it’s dispatch with a tracking ID so you can follow it the entire journey.

How much does it cost?

Free shipping AUS wide with any purchase over $99.

For any purchase under $99:

• VIC – $10
• Every other state $20

When will it arrive?

• Geelong – 1-2 Business Days
• Melbourne – 1-2 Business Days
• Rest of Victoria – 1-2 Business Days
• NSW/ACT – 2-3 Business Days
• SA – 2-3 Business Days
• TAS – 4-5 Business Days
• QLD – 5-7 Business Days
• WA – 7 Business Days
• NT – 7 Business Days

If you order hasn’t arrived within this time frame, please contact us so we can chase it up for you.

* In warmer months we will not dispatch orders on Friday to avoid heat issues with wine during transport. During sale times please allow 48 hours for dispatch. 24 hours refers to next business day.

Returns

We are very confident in the quality of our wines that if for any reason you feel the wine is not up to standard, follow these steps to enable a refund:

1. Notify us within 30 days of your delivery that you will like a refund. Any feedback during this time would be appreciated.
2. We’ll send you a return shipping label and you can book in a pick up address and time that suits you.
3. Upon inspection of the goods returned, if they are in the same condition as to how they were sent*, we will issue a refund to you.

*’Same condition to how they were sent’ simply means – no damaged labels, wine must have been stored in appropriate temperature conditions (not in a freezer or in direct sunlight or in damp conditions). The shipment is to be sent back in the original box and include the empty bottle of wine you have consumed to ensure the package is shipped safely.

If for some reason the wine was delivered to you damaged, simply take a photo of the stock and we will send a replacement.