Ochota Barrels

Ochota Barrels is based in Lenswood, in the cool high altitude climate of Adelaide Hills. Taras and Amber Ochota conceived of Ochota Barrels as a way to produce small batch super premium single vineyard wines sourced from magnificent old vineyard sites in McLaren Vale, Barossa and Adelaide Hills. Both are accomplished winemakers who have travelled and worked in California, Italy and Sweden. In Australia Taras worked at Two Hands and Nepenthe.

Their winemaking approach is minimalist. Hand harvested organic fruit is partially whole bunch basket pressed, fermented with native yeast, bottled unfined and unfiltered, with minimal sulfur. Taras takes a less is more approach to winemaking and infuses his background and love for music into his wines in both a literal and figurative sense. Literally the majority of the wines are named after favorite bands/songs (Shellac, Fugazi, Slint, I am the Owl, etc.). Figuratively Taras says that "Music and wine are so connected in so many ways, I reckon you can often see the styles of music people like in the wines they make. I like edgy music, rawer, sharper, and my wines tend to be all elbows and knees sticking out. Someone else might like folk music, and they make rustic, countryesque wines. And then you get mainstream big production wines that taste like music that’s been overdubbed and Auto-Tuned and had things taken out and put back in.” 
This isn't wine made by Britney Spears...

Fugazi Grenache

The Fugazi Vineyard was allegedly named from a quirk – the post-hardcore punk band Fugazi was playing on Taras and Amber’s car stereo as they arrived at the vineyard, which sits on a rise between the Onkaparinga River Gorge and Blewitt Springs in McLaren Vale. The vineyard is planted to 63 year old dry grown bush vines. The grapes are handpicked and undergo a 7 day cold soak. 70% whole-cluster fermentation occurs naturally without inoculation and the juice spends 82 days on skins! This is a pure expression of Grenache, checking in at a modest 13.8% alcohol with a pH of 3.52

Reviews:

2011 Wine Advocate 93 Points
International Wine Cellar - Josh Raynolds
Grenache The Fugazi Vineyard Onka Blewitt Ridge Mclaren Vale 2012 92 Points suggested Retail ($65). Deep ruby. Powerful raspberry liqueur and cherry aromas are brightened by accents of peppery spices and orange zest. Weighty but energetic, offering intense red fruit and floral pastille flavors that provide notable palate coverage. Shows excellent clarity and power on a finish that features silky tannins and a hint of allspice. This wine got 89 days of skin contact during fermentation.

Price: $260 per 6pk
 
Shellac Shiraz

The Shellac Vineyard, named for an obscure hardcore punk band, is located two tractor widths from Torbreck’s famed ‘Decendent’ block to the east and Greenock Creek’s block to the west on Roennfeldt Road. The wine sees 44 days on skins, with some Viognier skins tossed in for good measure. 30% of the ferment is whole bunch. The wine is basket pressed to French oak for 16 months, and gravity racked before final bottling without filtering or fining.

Reviews:

2012 Wine Advocate 93 Points
International Wine Cellar 93 points
Vivid ruby. Intense, spice-accented aromas of red berry preserves, cherry pit, incense and violets. Juicy, penetrating and pure, offering an array of red fruit and floral flavors lifted by zesty acidity. Closes with excellent clarity and length, leaving a candied violet note behind.
- Josh Raynolds

Price: $300 6pk
 
Green Room Syrah Grenache

Small berries, Whole Bunches, Miniscule yield! 66% Grenache 34% Syrah handpicked at dawn March 10 and 15. Cold soaked for 4 days until wild yeast fermentation, gently hand plunged 55 days on skins with 80% whole bunches. Basket pressed to seasoned barriques for 4 months, gravity racked, bottled unfined and unfiltered. Alcohol 13.8%

Reviews:

International Wine Cellar - Josh Raynolds
Grenache Noir/Syrah The Green Room Mclaren Vale 2012 90 Points
(a 66/34 blend; made with whole bunches): Vivid red. Bright, highly perfumed aromas of red berries and Asian spices, with a peppery topnote. Tangy and precise black raspberry and bitter cherry flavors show good energy and back-end lift. Clean, focused and nervy on the finish, which features fine-grained tannins and a hint of medicinal cherry

Price: $336 Net
 
A Forest Pinot Noir

Where the rest of the Ochota Barrels’ wines are single vineyard wines, this is composed of two sites and two clones high in the Hills. Dijon 777 comes from the Ashton sub-district at 1,800 feet and MV6 from Carey Gully at 2,000 feet. The clones were fermented separately (777 at 100% whole cluster and MV6 at 25% whole cluster) and cold soaked until wild yeast fermented started. Basket pressed to seasoned French barriques where it spent 12 months resting. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered. 13.2% Alcohol. 59 cases produced.

Reviews:

2012 Wine Advocate 93 Points
International Wine Cellar - Josh Raynolds
Pinot Noir A Forest Adelaide Hills 2012 93 Points suggested retail ($75)
Vivid red. Pungent, spice-accented aromas of red berries and candied rose. Tangy and precise, offering intense raspberry and bitter cherry flavors that gain power with air. Clearly some whole clusters happening here and the effect is more about spice than tannins. Light on its feet but shows serious depth of flavor, finishing with soft tannins, excellent clarity and emphatic spiciness.

Price: 6pk $330 net
 
Home Pinot Noir

With this offering Amber Ochota takes the helm as the winemaker. This is a single vineyard Pinot Noir, hand harvested from 15 year old vines. It’s natural yeast fermented 100% whole bunch, pressed into a single barrel, with no additions, bottled unfined and unfiltered. Only 288 bottles produced.
Region: Adelaide Hills
Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir
Vintage: 2013
Vineyard: 'Home' Vineyard
Vine Age: 15 years old
Yield: .6 tons per acre
Soil Type: Light Clay over Sandstone
Alcohol: 11.8%
Oak: 10 months in seasoned French barrique
Production: 24 cases

Reviews:
Price: Net $440