Sami-Odi

The Barossa is a place that has seen most of the country's famous Shiraz come to life. A lot of truly spectacular wines have emerged from this region. However, more recently there has been one man who is doing his own thing, pushing for ever-more pure and balanced wines: Fraser McKinley.

He just doesn't make generic wines of the Barossa, no he carefully selects plots in some of the valley's finest vineyards and vinifies them separately to create a cuvée, combining their strengths.

McKinley’s motivation is to make wines that dont have additions, with a very steady eye on harvesting based on pH. The wines are picked earlier than most in the Barossa, generally in February, which sounds extraordinary, but it seems to work from this site. After that, there is a small sulphur addition, but everything else is done by foot (gentle pigeage) and gravity. 

 

Sadly Sami Odi produces so little wine, that literally bottles, not cases, make it to NY.

Hoffman Dalwitz

Fraser’s ‘simple yet attentive’ farming philosophy remains unchanged since his first vintage, but he begins to learn more about the subtleties of Adrian Hoffman’s vineyard. Fraser picks some parcels of the biodynamically farmed vineyard early for acidity and drive and a few picked much later providing that definitive Barossa richness. He remains prudent in the vineyard with labor intensive farming and is vigilant not just during the growing season but during the ‘regrowth’ season with all pruning cuts are made amid descending lunar cycles, producing healthy canes, balanced clusters and small berries with resilient skins in the summer. All of this work results in the harvest of healthy fruit early in the season that requires no additions or adjustments and little intervention.

The grapes were hand-harvested and hand-sorted back at the winery. The carefully selected whole-clusters were placed into closed stainless-steel fermenters where they fermented without any additions carbonically. After two weeks on skins, Fraser gently foot stomps the ferment daily for two weeks.  The juice is then basket pressed into Burgundy pièces (25% of which were new) for maturation. Primary and malolactic fermentation finish naturally in barrel and to encourage the retention of naturally occurring carbon dioxide (a natural preservative and antioxidant) the wines are not racked during their élevage and remain on their lees until the barrels are selected and blended. After 18 months in barrel the wine is racked to tank to naturally settle and bottled without fining or filtration and just a small addition of sulfur.

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Little Wine #11

Fraser’s ‘simple yet attentive’ farming philosophy remains unchanged with the annual ‘Little Wine’ release that how now started its second decade of production. ‘Little Wine’ is a unique wine, as it is comprised of fruit from multiple vintages, with the older vintage portions adding depth and weight, and the younger contributing lift and fruit vibrancy. Some parcels are picked early for acidity and drive, some picked much later providing that definitive Barossa richness. Fraser remains prudent in the vineyard with biodynamic farming and harvesting taken fully into account. Furthermore he is vigilant not just during the growing season but during the ‘regrowth’ season with all pruning cuts are made amid descending lunar cycles, producing healthy canes, balanced clusters and small berries with resilient skins in the summer. Shoot thinning, suckering and crop paring are all integral parts of the annual cycle with an ideal to farm as simply as possible, resulting in the harvest of healthy fruit early in the season that requires no additions or adjustments and little intervention. As always ‘Little Wine’ is an ‘assemblage’ of multiple vintages primarily from the younger vines of the ‘HD’ vineyard. This release is from seven consecutive vintages (2015-2021 – 46% 2021, 18% 2020, 16% 2019, 2% 2018, 9% 2017, 5% 2016 & 4% 2015) and from vines planted from 1994-1996, 1960, 1927 & the oldest vines planted prior to 1912.

The grapes were hand-harvested and hand-sorted back at the winery. The carefully selected whole-clusters were placed into small one-ton fermenters and fermented without any additions as well as temperature control. The whole clusters started fermentation without any manual manipulation and after ten days were gently pigeaged by foot for 16-28 days and then basket pressed into Burgundy pièces (20% of which were new) for maturation. Primary and malolactic fermentation finished in barrel and to encourage the retention of naturally occurring carbon dioxide (a natural preservative and antioxidant) the wines are not racked during their élevage and remain on their lees until they are assembled. The assembly of barrels spent anywhere from 6-78 months in barrel and was bottled without fining or filtration and just a small sulfur addition.

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