NEWS

Persistence and Belief leads to Dual Trophy Win

They say all things happen for a reason, which is perhaps why one of the Australian wine industry’s biggest mix ups, has led to one of Crittenden Estate’s most celebrated successes. 

At the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show held on November 8 - 11, Crittenden Estate’s 2013 Cri de Coeur Savagnin won the trophy for best French Varietal and then went on to win the trophy for best White Wine of show.

Regarded by the industry as one of the best wine show’s in the country, The Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show (AAVWS) is a forum for wines that fall outside the mainstream. The show had more than 800 wines entered, made by 226 different producers, grown in 66 unique wine regions.  Throughout the event, over 100 different grape varieties were tasted.

So how did this success come to be? 

In 2008 many Australian vignerons, including Crittenden Estate, inadvertently planted Savagnin in the belief they were planting the Spanish variety Albarińo.  However, upon a visit by France’s top vine identifier, Jean-Michael Boursiquot, the mistake was realised.  

Whilst many winemakers attempted to graft vines, or even rip them out altogether, Crittenden Estate turned its focus to the home of Savagnin, the Jura region in France, and began ageing their tiny production under a yeast flor or ‘voile’ to add a nutty, oxidative quality to the wine. And so began a journey of education, perspiration and frustration, which has ultimately resulted in this highly acclaimed wine. A Cri De Coeur (cry of the heart) if ever there was one!

With the first vintage produced in 2011, Winemaker Rollo Crittenden has continued to evolve the wine making technique of this Jura style wine for the 2013 vintage.

Rollo said, “We never could have hoped to make such a highly regarded and now awarded wine when we embarked on this project. At first, we were just trying to salvage a bad situation and have a little fun along the way. It goes without saying that I am delighted to receive these awards for a wine that ultimately started as a viticultural mistake – especially from a wine show that I hold in such high regard.”

Apart from these AAVWS awards, industry experts have also shared their praises for Crittenden Estate’s 2013 Savagnin 

“This wine is a triumph. A few Australian winemakers have attempted the style but Crittenden Estate has absolute­ly nailed it…  it is one of the most intriguing and captivating wines I’ve tried this year”.  Dave Brookes, The Adelaide Review, August 7th 2017

“The second release of this vin jaune-inspired white wine - savagnin aged for years in barrel under a layer of flor yeast - is even more outstanding than the first: gorgeous nuttiness and tangy complexity.” Max Allen, Gourmet Traveller, June 2017

"This has been so anticipated by me I nearly wet my pants opening the carton. Then it got lost in a blind line up of ‘other whites’ but so easily found. Smelling it makes me want to take a big gulp of it. Crittenden are the only people in Australia really, truly, taking their bounty of savag­nin for table wines seriously". Mike Bennie, winefront.com.au, 17 May 2017

16/11/2017 at 10:23 AM Permalink

Spring Garden Party

Crittenden Estate recently hosted it's annual Wine Alliance Spring Garden Party. An event exclusively for our Wine Alliance Club members, guests were able to enjoy a wide range of Crittenden Wines beautifully paired with Indonesian fare from Andrew Grinter's new venture Social in Blairgowrie.

Thank you to all who joined us and we look forward to doing it all again next year!  

Here is a little video from the day 

02/11/2017 at 12:13 PM Permalink

Spring time at the Estate

The vineyard has come to life in the past few weeks signalling the start of the growing season.  A healthy cover crop can be found in the mid rows of the vineyard, with broad beans and snow peas amongst some of the crops.  This will provide essential nitrogen for the vines along with plenty of options for spring salads and side dishes for the dinner table. 

Work in the winery has been steady over winter.  Our estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are developing nicely in barrel, where they will spend a few more months before blending and preparing for bottle.  In the meantime we are preparing the 2017 Peninsula range of wines due for bottling in November.  The core Peninsula range will be joined this year by a new Peninsula Rosé made entirely from Pinot Noir sourced from Main Ridge.  

So far the wines are showing great promise.  The whites are defined by great acidity, freshness and balance with the reds showing elegant fruit expression and fine detail.  Drinkability will be a key feature of the 2017’s but they will cellar well if you can resist the temptation.  

Matt Campbell, Assistant winemaker and winery manager

05/10/2017 at 11:09 AM Permalink

This Season's Food + Wine

Winter has arrived.  As the evenings get cooler, the fires are stoked and many of us start to enjoy our red wine even more.

So it’s a good time to think about what food pairs well with your favourite red.  Our friends from Hillock Down Produce Store in Rye have provided us with this great, warming recipe that will go perfectly with our 2015 Crittenden Estate Kangerong Pinot Noir. 

Polpette - Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

by Hillock Downs Produce Store

INGREDIENTS

1 kilo Hillock Downs grass feed beef mince
150 grams of breadcrumbs
180 grams of Parmesan cheese greated finely
4 tablespoons of fresh Italian parsley, chopped finely
4 eggs
160 ml of olive oil
2 onions finely chopped
1 garlic clove
2 kilo of Hillock Downs passata sauce
2 bay leaves
Extra grated parmesan cheese and chopped parsley to serve
500 g of your favourite pasta

METHOD
Mix breadcrumbs, cheese, parsley with the beef mince. Add 3 eggs first and mix well. Mixture should all come together. If it feels too dry, add the 4th egg. Roll mixture into balls. Heat oil in a pan that’s large enough to hold all the meat balls. Cook meatballs until golden brown as they brown lift them out. Fry onion and garlic until sautéed, then add the passata sauce. Add all of the browned meatballs back to pan with Passata sauce. Add bay leaves and simmer for 40 minutes. Cook pasta according to packet instructions until al dente. Maniare!
 

TO SERVE
Place cooked pasta in a large bowl and spoon meatballs over the top. Sprinkle with extra parmesan cheese and parsely.
 

MATCHED BEVERAGE
2015 Crittenden Estate Kangerong Pinot Noir

ABOUT HILLOCK DOWNS PRODUCE STORE
We at Hillock Downs are committed to providing you with the best beef made by nature. We are MSA licenced producers and pasture certified which means there are no hormones and are antibiotic free animals. We make sure the animals are treated with the utmost respect. Our cattle are all born and raised right here on the farm using traditional and sustainable farming practices.

151 Dundas St, Rye
Tel: 0413 777 737
hillock-downs.com.au

If you’re looking for some other great wine recommendations for this season, the following tipples will be just perfect for your winter months:

• 2015 OGGI B, the white wine for red wine lovers
• 2016 Pinoccchio Sangiovese
• 2015 Geppetto Cab Merlot 
• 2015 Los Hermanos Homenaje 

05/07/2017 at 11:05 AM Permalink

The Steady Hum of Vintage

The steady hum of vintage has wound down to a gentle whisper of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir slowly finishing their ferments.  2017 has been a very promising vintage for Crittenden Estate, the journey to this point beginning around spring 2016. 

Our vineyard sprung to life right on schedule and was followed by strong, healthy spring growth.  The vineyards flowering period coincided with a cool spell in November, leading to reduced potential yields and a few nerves leading into summer.  A hands on approach and attention to detail in the vineyard helped reduce the threat of disease from high humidity and heavy rainfall over the New Year period.  A mild to warm summer ensued, along with timely rainfall, aiding the vineyard in the approach to harvest.  For us, the 2017 vintage will be defined by the near perfect ripening conditions of late February and March.  Mild days, cool nights and dry weather led to a stable, prolonged ripening for our grapes, with our various blocks picked at optimum balance and ripeness.

Things moved very smoothly in the winery this harvest.  Batches of fruit arrived in timely fashion and were given their deserved full attention by the winery team.  Time enough to put some premium Pinot Noir through our little basket press, gently extracting the skins, giving superb results.  The whites exhibit lovely natural acidity, ripeness and balance.  At this early stage the potential quality is very high.  The Pinot Noirs have an elegant poise, fine subtle tannin and are less boisterous than 2016.  They poses excellent expression of place and in time will become archetypical Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noirs. 

With winter setting in the vineyard begins to shut down and winery slips back a gear or two.  There is, however, plenty of work to do and the excitement of seeing the 2017 wines develop in barrel will provide ample inspiration.

05/07/2017 at 10:46 AM Permalink