2018 Find Your Roots Field Blend

GRAPEGROWER

Matt Pfeiffer

WINEMAKER

Josh Pfeiffer

FRUIT SOURCE

This fruit was purchased from my cousin, Matt Pfeiffer, who has a one hectare vineyard near Seppeltsfield that is randomly interplanted with Grenache, Mataro, Shiraz and Alicanté Bouschet. These bush vines grow without the aid of a trellis system, and rely solely on their root system for support, hence the name Find Your Roots. The soil here is red clay over quartz, giving the wine a nice mineral edge.

WINE MAKING

Matt and his family and friends hand harvested these bush vines on the 18th of March 2018, combining all four grape varieties in the picking bins. The bins were then tipped directly into the fermenter, where we then foot stomped the grapes in order to release some of the juice to encourage the natural fermentation to commence. This wine was on skins for 18 days, with 100% whole bunches of fruit, foot stomped twice daily until it was basket pressed away from the skins and stems. It then went into old French oak hogsheads (300L barrels) for 12 months before it was blended and bottled without fining or filtration. This wine is vegan friendly.

THE WINE

Fermented as 100% whole bunches, this wine has a slightly green edge to the nose due to the use of stems in the ferment. Being a field blend, each of the varieties (Grenache, Mataro, Alicante Bouschet and Shiraz) adds a certain character to the wine. The Grenache gives the wine some nice red fruits, the Mataro is more earthy and savoury, the Alicante Bouschet is a burst of black currant and the Shiraz fills out the body nicely. On the palate this wine is quite tight and crunchy, with the whole bunches adding more tannin to the palate, along with some bright, crunchy fruit.

TECHNICAL DATA
Alc: 13.5% pH: 3.59  T.A.: 5.94 g/l

RECOMMENDED CELLARING
Ready to drink now or cellar for 5-7 years.

REVIEWS

92 points- Wine Front- July 2019- “Tasting a raft of wines where you have no clue what they are is so often an interesting process. As with this one, where I thought, ‘What the f*ck is this!?’ A little research, just now, shows it’s 100% whole bunch  from a vineyard in ‘Seppeltsfield that is randomly interplanted with Grenache, Mataro, Shiraz and Alicanté Bouschet.’

Train tracks and iron, floral and sweet, red fruits, spice and candy. Ironstone, fine tannin, coal and red fruits, peculiar wine, but so interesting. Not sure what’s in there, but it’s a little different for sure. Almost into a frisky Booj style. Yeah. Tannin plays on finish, and it’s so nicely made.” Gary Walsh