A brief introduction to Malbec

Historically Malbec grapes were widely grown in Bordeaux France.  However this variety amongst others, was decimated by Phylloxera.  Phylloxera is a louse that eats the roots of the vine, and was introduced to France from America in the 1860’s.  Phylloxera was overcome in France and across Europe by grafting healthy canes onto rootstocks of grape varieties that are largely resistant to phylloxera.  Today in Bordeaux Malbec is only grown on rootstocks and is mostly produced as one of the 5 key Bordeaux red varieties namely Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

Cheval des Andes is a famous Malbec producer located in Mendoza, Argentina.  Here you will find their high altitude vineyard close to Lujan de Cuyo Valley in the foothills of the Andes Mountains, between 900 & 1500 metres elevation.  It was the dream of the Founder of Cheval des Andes, Pierre Lurton to plant the original Malbec vines from Bordeaux to Argentina.  A vineyard originally planted to Malbec, on their own roots, in 1929.  A joint venture between Terrazas de Los Andes and Cheval des Andes established in 1999 produces the expensive and very famous Malbec, Bordeaux-style blend that has become the signature wine of the Cheval des Andes.

Malbec on their own roots provide the purest expression of the variety. We are lucky here at Stefano Lubiana Wines like at Cheval des Andes to be able to grow our Malbec on own roots. 

There you have it, a little history lesson on the Malbec variety.  A relatively new variety to Tasmania and not yet widely grown throughout the many and varied viticultural regions of Tasmania.  Here at Stefano Lubiana Wines we have been growing Malbec for some 10 years.  Up until recently the grapes have found a home in our Bordeaux blend predominantly made up of Merlot.  In 2018 we decided to make the blend 100% Malbec and the wine has not disappointed our many Buon Gusto club members, visitors to our eatery and those visiting for a tasting at our Tuscan inspired cellar door.

We are growing our grapes in soil similar to those found in Bordeaux, grey silty loam over small rocks and stones that have washed up over many millions of years, a product of river-bank drift.  Our climate is cool like that of the Andes but not a result of altitude but a product of Tasmania’s southern latitude.  Here the cool sea breezes ebb and flow along the tidal banks of the Derwent River creating perfect ripening conditions for Malbec.

Our 2018 harvest of the Stefano Lubiana biodynamic Malbec produced a wine that exhibits a highly expressive perfumed style with rich supple body. Forest floor, spice and Autumn fruits dominate the nose whilst the palate is a balance of rich plums intermingled with spice and ripe soft tannins.

22/07/2021 at 12:00 PM Permalink

Vineyard Update!

Not long now until the shortest day of the year or the longest night depends how you look at it!  Many locals are either heading to northern states to enjoy a warmer winter or eagerly awaiting the return of Hobart’s busy winter events calendar. While Hobart prepares for the onslaught of Dark Mofo we Vignerons are busy doing the necessary work to set the vineyard up for 2022.

Now that we have moved into the colder, darker days of winter, vintage is but a memory with all our barrels safely ‘tucked away’ in the cellar. Our vineyard crew has commenced the mammoth task of pruning across our Derwent and Huon Valley sites. An absolute crucial step in producing layered, vibrant wines. Pruning of our 37.5 hectares is by hand and is as labour intensive as you might imagine, as with previous years ‘all hands on deck’ are required to complete this task by Spring.

With vintage completed and pruning under way we also have a batch of homemade compost fermenting. All green waste from the winery, vineyard and larder (when not being fed to our chooks) is used in our compost. Once finished and rested, the brew will be broadcast throughout the vineyard, garden & orchard at the end of winter/early spring to give our vines, vegetables and fruit trees the nitrogen & nutrients to push them on their way to vintage 2022.  

We sowed Tic beans in the vineyard just before April’s full moon and they are now breaking through the soil.  The native Hens are feasting on the tender green shoots.  However cute they are, we're not very happy about them greedily consuming our cover crop.  To gently persuade them to stop we’re erecting a fence to keep them out. FYI native hens are commonplace throughout Tasmania, sometimes known as turbo chooks as they are very fast to escape upon approach and look like a prehistoric chicken.  

As with previous years our cellar door and larder will remain open for the winter months and we will once again be showing our biodynamic wines at the Winter Feast. If you are in Hobart during the Dark Mofo period, do drop by our stall (adjacent to the heavy metal kitchen) and taste some wine, we would love to meet you all.

Our award winning 2018 biodynamic Estate Chardonnay has now sold out apart from a limited number of Magnums available. Purchase through our website if you want to enjoy the taste of the ‘incomparable’ 2018 Estate Chardonnay, recently named the top wine and trophy winner at the 2020 Australian Organic wine show. We are equally happy with our 2019 Estate Chardonnay and expect it will showcase the exceptional depth achievable in Southern Tasmania.

On release the 2019 Estate Chardonnay shows restraint but will express more of the lemon cream, biscuity, mealy flavours and stone fruit layers as it ages in the bottle.  Enjoy this wine now, however we recommend to decant for an hour or so at room temperature to reduce this wine’s shyness (longevity) and encourage its shape to bloom adding texture and lifting the aroma to the ether.

05/06/2021 at 12:40 PM Permalink

Syrah & the Rhone Valley 2018

It is hard to believe there was a time before Covid 19 where Steve and I were fortunate enough to travel abroad (semi) regularly. With travel off the cards for the moment we find ourselves reminiscing about our most memorable experiences abroad, naturally wine and the pursuit of making exceptional wine was a large focus of our trips.  Before Covid-19 upturned the world, in late 2018 Steve and I attended Millesime Bio before heading east to the Rhone Valley. Millesime Bio, is a certified organic/biodynamic wine fair held in Montpellier and is evidence of the rise of “clean” wines. 

In its infancy Millesime Bio would attract a small handful of like-minded producers, now almost 30 years later it attracts hundreds, if not 1000 mostly French Organic and Biodynamic Wineries. This fair is open to wine buyers and producers from around the world.  Steve and I were pleased to find our wines well received with many European winemakers curious to taste ‘Tasmanian’. We are pictured in the link below and if you are interested to know more about the rise in demand for Organic/Biodynamic wine, see the article below.

http://www.the-buyer.net/opinion/millesime-bio-2018-green-machine-marches/

After this event we travelled east for 2 nights to the home of Syrah, the Rhone Valley. We grafted our first few rows of Syrah (Shiraz) in 2014 and were about to release the 2017 vintage (our first release) so we were interested to compare styles. Steve having first visited this region shortly after his graduation from Roseworthy in the late 1980’s.  Along with inspiration and tasting Syrah from the most prestigious houses domaines, we also wanted to understand more about how the vines were pruned and the orientation of the vineyard sites.

We stayed in a little B&B at Tain-L’Hermitage that was more like a mini hotel right on the edge of the Rhone River.  The river was easily as wide as the Derwent but the edges were concreted.  The amount of water that flowed down the river was mind blowing and fast, carrying what I estimate at least 5 Olympic swimming pools per second.   However, the river seemed strangely quiet for such a huge flow of water. 

Given that it was late November, and very cold there were very few tourists around. Many of the world-renowned cellar doors were closed and the sophisticated hotel style river boats as advertised on Australian TV by Harvey World Travel, were moored for the winter. 

The highlight of our visit was a walk to the top of the Hermitage hill, all the while discussing what our future vintages of Syrah might taste like and how Steve was going to go about the vinification. The most highly sort after Rhone Valley Syrah’s come from the highest slopes of the Heritage hill where the vines are mostly terraced and staked rather than trellised.  The rows are very narrow and only allow for small machinery, (think domestic mower width) or for a horse to pass.  After descending Hermitage Hill we visited the centre of Tain and tasted as many wines as we could.
  
At Granton we have a small parcel of land similar to what we saw on Hermitage Hill, that has cemented our decision to stake out some close-planted Syrah vines in the future.

Two and half years later after our wonderful trip to Southern France we are releasing our third vintage of Syrah. 
The limited quantity of the 2017 vintage sold out in a matter of months and was warmly received by all who tasted. Our 2018 Syrah was equally successful earning 95 points in the most recent edition of Halliday Wine Companion. A Votre Santé with our 2019 Syrah.  

12/02/2021 at 5:22 PM Permalink

Vintage Update!

Vintage 2021 is rounding the bend and will soon be at the finish line.

This winter the vineyard was pruned by total pros, myself included, and the result is even growth with well spaced internodes.

Early cover crop seeding that germinated well and grew profusely over winter plus the addition of trace elements set the vineyard up for excellent canopy coverage.  Grape bunches will fill out slowly and evenly as there are plenty of leaves to photosynthesise through summer and into autumn.

This growing season we trialled a new method of mowing one third of vegetative growth at flowering and allowing more growth and mowing before its final cut to the deck.  The idea of cutting one third of the green manure is to increase the root mass and to drive it deeper.  It seems to have worked as the vines exploded during spring, possibly due to increased water penetration as well as the sinking of more carbon to feed the microbes that store nitrogen.

As I write we are finalising crop levels by green harvesting where necessary and tidying up the canopy to put out the last sulphur spray for the season readying for netting.  Can’t wait for technology to catch up here.  It would be fantastic to have a drone in the shape of a bird that’s programmed to chase away starlings & silver eyes from the vineyard.

Covid-19 has interrupted our business but we have still received many visits from existing and new customers over the summer, mostly from Queensland and many from Victoria.  They’ve been tasting our wines and enjoying our rustic food offering with the most popular dish being our onion tart that matches very well with Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and ‘Primavera’ Pinot Noir.  Another favourite has been our Zuppa Inglese (English soup) Northern Italian version of tiramisu.

Update on our new close-planted vineyard 1mx1m!  Again growth has been good and our management systems are improving.  We predict this vineyard will eventually make the highest quality Pinot Noir & chardonnay from the entire vineyard, watch this space!

29/01/2021 at 5:00 PM Permalink

Kiss the ground

Kiss the Ground is a ‘Big Picture’ film a biopic in association with 7 other entities.

Woody Harrelson is the Narrator; other prominent film, sports and fashion identities provide low-key contributions.

The golden message of the film is that we can all contribute to saving the earth from global warming and the solution is ‘under our feet’.

The star of the film Ray Archuleta, a Conservation Agronomist, is employed to teach farmers about how to sequester carbon.  Sequestering carbon takes carbon from the atmosphere and stores it in the soil where it feeds the microbes.   They multiply creating a sponge for water & nutrients.  Both these are required to grow crops.

In the USA the bank of carbon that existed in the soil prior to the 1930s has been destroyed, mostly through tilling.  Artificial fertilisers, the separation of rotation cropping from animal husbandry and pesticides use have also impacted the soil’s capacity to store carbon by killing off microbes. 

The film follows a farmer who tells his story of going broke using modern farming methods.  He returns to how farming was done prior to the agricultural revolution and we see a comparison of his farm compared to his neighbours and the ‘proof is in the pudding’.

The film shows us how to store carbon, 1% of organic matter equals 10 tons of carbon per acre, how animal husbandry done correctly can help the soil, how food waste can transform soil and finally how a smaller more thoughtful footprint helps everyone as well as the environment.

This affirming doco avoids laying blame yet acknowledges the legacy load of fossil fuels.  The film focuses on what we can do and opens our eyes to a solution everyone can contribute to and gives examples of cities around the world making it happen.

At Stefano Lubiana Wines our soils measured up to 7.5% organic matter.  Organics/Bio-dynamics is our key to success.  The use of natural fertilisers, minimal tilling, and cover cropping increase the microbes in the soil banking more carbon whilst increasing water-holding capacity and all the while avoiding synthetic pesticides and fungicides.
Kiss The Ground five stars!

15/01/2021 at 1:30 PM Permalink