New Release | 2021 Single Site Pinot Noir's

New Releases | 2021 Single Blocks – Ruscello, Il Giardino & La Roccia

The time has come for the release of our beloved Single Block Pinot Noir's. The demand for these wines have risen over the years and we see these Single Block Pinot Noir's sell out in a matter of months. A very small-production of each wine results in extremely limited quantities of the Single Blocks being available. Please see below notes on the 2021 vintage and each of the wines.

During the 2021 vintage we had a small amount of rain however due to diligant work in our biodynamic vineyard our grapes reached phenolic maturity earlier so we were able to pick most our grapes before the rain. The vintage was also challenging as we were short staffed due to COVID-19. This will be a vintage we remember where all hands were on deck to pick and process the grapes!

The soil type of each of the single blocks underpins their unique profiles. All soil types are within 500 meters of each other, such a small area to have such differences in their soil profiles. Reduced yields allow the vine to focus its energy to their roots, delving deeper and wider into the soil to absorb more minerals and nutrients. Keep in mind all 3 Single Block Pinot Noirs are vinified the exact same way.

Ruscello

The Ruscello block is located near a little creek that runs mostly in winter through the middle of the property. The soil is a silty grey loam over white gravel and gravelly clay. The vines are mature at 25 years old. This block produces very generous and pretty fruit – exactly what most devotees love about Pinot Noir

Il Giardino

The block from where the Il Giardino Pinot Noir comes from sits over a cracking black clay base over patches of chalky limestone. Limestone is known to attract water and clay allows for valuable water retention. The block is located high on the hillside tucked away from the sometimes, harsh westerly weather. As a result, the vines grow with more vigour, producing structured wines with higher acidity and tannin profiles.

La Roccia

The main geological feature of this block is a large limestone rock shelf that rest in the middle of the block. It has red crumbling clay topsoil and has the highest elevation of the 3 blocks, facing northeast. The La Roccia, is always the first picked and consistently produces wines with the greatest structure and tannin ofthe all blocks, lending this wine to age well in the cellar. We recommend 10 years cellaring.

19/04/2023 at 8:26 AM Permalink

Pinot Noir with Easter Lunch

Easter Sunday is on the 9th April 2023. This date will come around quickly. Harvest usually commences at our Granton Estate on or about the 1st of March. This year we started picking sparkling wine grapes on March 14th. It is a very busy time of the year. But we usually host Easter lunch for our family. We also invite a handful of friends and vintage interns who are at a loose end or who have no family with whom to celebrate.

This year, Pinot Noir will be the star of the show. Generally a handful of bottles are chosen to celebrate the day, matched with Steve’s favourite meal, duck. He buys a duck semi prepared from our local Moonah Chinese grocer (this is the cheating part). The duck is re-baked it in our oven for about an hour to achieve the twice-cooked flavour. To serve, Steve steams up some pancakes or buns and slices up organic spring onions and cucumber to accompany.  A shiny glaze of hoisin sauce is added once the ingredients are packed neatly into the pancake.  A couple of family members are vegan but this poses no problem whatsoever. Plant Asia is a food brand that makes plant-based duck that is widely available. This meat duck substitute matches equally as well with the king of reds, Pinot Noir.

Steve admits after over 30 years of making Pinot, and travelling the country attending countless dinners and lunches, he can say he’s eaten more duck than almost any other consumers. It is by far the most delicious meat to marry with Pinot Noir.

Typically chefs prepare confit-duck in a restaurant setting. This is where the duck is taken from the oil and crisped up in the oven, and served with steamed greens and creamy mashed potatoes with jus. Preparing duck this way provides texture to the protein as well as the melt in your mouth tenderness, which accentuates its gamey spicy flavour.

Duck is only a suggestion for Easter lunch; we are lucky in Australia to have many choices of other fresh and affordable foods. Like most families at Easter we will enjoy a few chocolate eggs after the meal.

There are plenty of fantastic Australian Pinot Noirs to choose from as well as some great New Zealand, American and French wines. We have put together a Easter Pinot Noir 6 bottle pack for this occasion, giving you the opportunity to enjoy three different Pinot Noirs of ours over Easter and offering you a saving of $38 on the wines. Buon Gusto members also receive their additional saving on top.

This Easter Pinot Noir 6 bottle pack consists of:

1 x 2022 Stefano Lubiana 'Primavera' Pinot Noir
Our Primavera Pinot Noir is mostly wild fermented, de-stemmed and taken off skins early to retain lots of  fruit flavour. The grapes are hand picked, hand sorted and fermented with own yeasts and some whole bunches. Basket pressed after about 3 weeks. The result is a beautiful, soft red wine with natural medium body that has wonderful drinkability. 

4 x 2021 Stefano Lubiana 'Estate' Pinot Noir
"Tasted alongside the 2020, this 2021 Estate Pinot Noir shows the vintage for all that it was: cool, fine and precise. All of the 2021s tasted for this report have an extra level of excitement and finesse about them, and this wine is included within that. In the mouth, there is a framework of very spicy, fine tannin: orange zest/oil, Campari, black cherries, thyme and a hint of sage. The wine is savory and vital, pure and complete. Very good, but it will be better." - 93+ Points, Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate

1 x 2018 Stefano Lubiana 'Sasso' Pinot Noir
We have three unique blocks of Pinot Noir (II Giardino, La Roccia & Ruscello). The fruit from these blocks are specifically chosen for this wine as they produce fruit of the highest quality. This wine is medium weighted, with soft savoury tannins and well-balanced acidity. "A style in which I have always enjoyed making and drinking" - Steve Lubiana. The wine is only produced in exceptional years with the 2020 being only the 8th year of Sasso.

Buon appetitio & Happy Easter!

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22/03/2023 at 9:00 AM Permalink

Making wine in Australia that tastes like Europe

Making wine in Australia that tastes like Europe.

As a young couple we loved to share a bottle of Beaujolais, Village.  We adored its fruitiness tannin and soft finish; at the time no one in Australia was producing anything remotely like it.  I think this is where the seed was sown to produce a comparable, more accurately interpretive, wine style.

The grape variety Gamay was not widely produced when we first planted our vineyard and I’m not even sure if you could buy cuttings back then, I'm not up to date with what clones of Gamay are now available in Australia.  Our first priority was to plant Pinot Noir and Chardonnay to produce sparkling wine given it was the reason we relocated from the Riverland of South Australia to greater Hobart.  At that time 1990 Australia was experiencing a financial crisis and businesses were dropping like flies due to ultra high interest rates around 18-21% the levels not yet seen since.  Luckily grapes that were tightly held became available due to the difficult financial conditions.

Confident that we could sell a new style of wine, high interest rates did not deter us other than check our exuberance to make more wine than we could really afford.  At that time banks were really conservative in their lending, given the foreclosures.

In 1993 we produced our first very fruity, soft Pinot Noir we called it Primavera Pinot Noir modelled on our favourite Beaujolais.  We pinched the name ‘Primavera’ off a set of 4 decorative plates named after each of the seasons Steve’s mother, Dolores purchased from Bassano, Italy during one of their machinery buying trips with her husband Mario.

We were purchasing grapes at the time, as our vineyards were not yet producing.  Steve believed the best wine he could make was a soft red, one highly perfumed, super fruity, with very soft tannins and acids.  Something with a romantic flare that would appeal to all generations, a wine to share with those you love, a lover's wine.  A wine that can accompany a picnic or ordered from a wine list at an expensive restaurant.  It can be given as a gift trusting it has universal appeal.

Our Granton vineyards have been in production for decades now and we converted to biodynamics in 2010.  Our Primavera wine has grown in stature and quality during this time.  Each vintage we elevate this wine to the next level of irresistibility.  The grapes are supplied with more and more nutrition, the winemaking and processing equipment are fine-tuned and its oak components are now matched more succinctly.

Today we release the newest addition to our premium wine offering with the very delicious 2022 Primavera Pinot Noir.  This wine shines as a wonderful example of how a European wine inspired us to create our very own flavour of Europe in Tasmania.  Raspberries and strawberries perfume the nose while subtle flavours of cherries and dark berries as well as cedar spice saturate the palate.  Super fine silky tannins and acids hold tension and slowly fades out on the finish.  This wine suits many cuisines and is built to age 5-10 years depending on your cellar.

We celebrate the new release of our 2022 Primavera Pinot Noir!

27/01/2023 at 3:11 PM Permalink

Summer in our vineyards

Summer in the vineyard is at full throttle.  Spring was cool with many topping spring rains.  This set the vines up for an explosion of growth when the warm weather hit us leading up to Christmas Day 2022.

Since coming back from Christmas it has been a constant hive of activity in the vineyard including catching up on mowing, tucking, and hedging.  The spray programme, consisting mostly of sulphur sprays, has relaxed given the warm mild conditions and no rain.  However, we still monitor disease on a regular basis, knowing biodynamic farming leaves no real arsenal in the toolbox to fight disease once it sets in.

Today as I write this blog the bunches are getting very close to closing and we have an average to medium crop due to showers/rain at flowering in early December.  Rain can disrupt pollen transfer, preventing fertilisation of the flower. The result is no berry or a seedless berry.  There is no risk of overcropping!  Too many bunches per vine causes dilution of flavour, acid and tannins. Each season we work hard to keep yields in balance to ensure our quality is maintained and improved as much as possible.

Also slated as an important job but not a huge load on the vineyard crew is monitoring the bunch numbers once bunches have closed.  We need to check bunch weights and numbers to ensure crop levels are accurate.  Bunch thinning ensues, particularly for the ultra premium wines, if we find the crops are too heavy for the same reason mentioned above.

The next wave of work on our agenda is managing the new vineyards, (2ha of Chardonnay, 0.3ha of Malvasia and 0.5ha of Pinot Gris), by wrapping down the shoots over the fruiting wire as they become long enough.  This keeps the vineyard neat and tidy and the trunks straight, as well as providing easy access to the inter-rows.

Bottling has also been happening concurrently.  Some wines are nearing ready to bottle, and the barrels will need to be emptied so that we can fill them with this year’s vintage.  The wines that were bottled and stored over the winter will be retrieved and labelled ready for Autumn release.

In the winery we will soon start to prepare the cellar for vintage, mostly by maintaining and cleaning equipment ready for harvest in March.  It is always like this, a flow from one season to the next.  Enjoy the beautiful summer weather and share a glass of wine and kindness whenever you can!

18/01/2023 at 12:34 AM Permalink

Stefano Lubiana Riesling taking it to the next level

Steve fell in love with Rieslings during his travels post winemaking degree in 1985.  On route to Europe via Asia Steve met, Reiner, a gentle German giant.  Their Asian leg came to an end with Reiner traveling back to Germany and Steve taking up his internship in France.   After vintage Steve made his way to Reiner’s hometown of Zell a hamlet of Moselle located in Germany’s Rhine Valley.  Reiner, a man with a very generous soul took the time to show Steve the very top producers of Riesling throughout the valley.  An experience Steve has never forgotten to this day.  This is where the inspiration came from for the planting of Riesling at our Granton Vineyard.

Riesling comes in many styles, it can be sparkling, dry, off-dry, sweet, and sometimes it’s left on the vine to decay and transformed into what Australian’s call stickies the formal name being Noble rot wines.

In the past, we have made a slightly effervescent Riesling but generally, our preferred style is off-dry.  Depending on the year the residual sugar can range from 12 to 6 grams.

Residual sugar happens when we stop the wine fermenting with a sulphur addition before the wine reaches dryness.  The reason residual sugar is retained is to balance out high acid.

Riesling is naturally high in acid and even higher when grown in a cool climate like Tasmania.  In the past, we have left a higher residual sugar in the wine so that the wine is more balanced earlier in the wine’s drinking window. 

Recently we expanded our winemaking repertoire to include barrel-fermented and oak maturing of our Riesling.  This tool is used for the same reason the residual sugar element is used.  Fermenting Riesling in oak and maturing in oak softens its shape taking off the angle edges.  Less residual sugar is needed to balance the wine and the wine is more approachable earlier.

Austrian oak use is this wine’s point of difference and it creates wines that have middle body and texture without sacrificing the beautiful explosive aromas of orange blossom, musk, and chalky talcs.  In the past, we have aged Riesling in our cellar for a year or more to temper the racy, high-tingly acids.  The other benefit of employing tightly grained oak is it adds some very soft tannins to the finish of the wine and this marries well with creamy dishes or oily fish and crustaceans and the many choices of soft hand-crafted cheeses.  

24/11/2022 at 9:37 AM Permalink

New Aromatic Whites

We are excited to release our new Aromatic wines.

2022 Pinot Gris
2022 Sauvignon Blanc
2021 Riesling click here for our Riesling blog.

The Sauvignon Blanc and the Pinot Gris have been sold out for some months, almost having a cult following.  The Riesling is also selling out faster as more customers gravitate to unmatched and rare, biodynamic Riesling.

Reflecting on the 2022 growing season it was mild with lots of spring rains, a luxury our warm soils do not always receive.  The mild and long season gave the vines abundant time to accumulate flavour and grace, resulting in wines with highly perfumed aromatics, opulent layers of summer fruit flavour, soft juicy texture, and elegant soft finishes with a tiny tannin grip to compliment any dish.

Our aromatic wines are made with the same care and traditional methods used by the best French & German winemakers.  Tasmania has a very similar climate to Europe and through Steve’s heritage and his many travels and work experiences in France, Italy and Germany he has mastered the nuances of aromatic winemaking.

Precision, balance, and clarity in our wines are the results of A-grade viticulture, the wisdom of biodynamics and its capacity to harness the life force of our terroir and the cosmos, our winemaking experience, and intuition as well as the use of tight-grained Austrian founders and their capacity to deliver the perfect ratio of lees contact. Light use of sulphur at the perfect bottling window ensures quality and drinkability is retained.

20/11/2022 at 10:58 AM Permalink

Seriously Good Chardonnay

Seriously good future Chardonnay

As mentioned in my last blog we are in the process of planting a special little vineyard at Blacksnake Road, Granton.  Overlooking the stunning Derwent River, this new vineyard, as the crow flies, is located two kilometres south of our mother-vineyard at Rowbottoms Road Granton.

The plot is 4ha in total, nestled in amongst 1ha of rural living properties. It was purchased in 2021, chosen for its soil type, elevation and aspect but, most importantly, for its suitability to grow Chardonnay.

The soil, or terroir, is black clay over a mealy chalky base.  The site slopes to the North and is on a 15 degrees gradient at 120 metres above sea level.  The soil type is typically heavier than that of our mother vineyard’s, so increased density will benefit balance.

High-density plantings grow vines that have higher leaf to fruit ratio than normal vineyards. The root system is pushed deeper rather than wider and shoots grow higher to exploit the sunshine. The ultimate outcome is fruit with greater depth and concentration of flavour.

Our Blacksnake Road vineyard has a vine density is 6173/ha, 1.8 metre rows and by 0.9 metres between the vines.  This new vineyard will have 28% more vines than our existing chardonnay blocks.  The clones are a selection of 95, Penfolds and Gin Gin.  At our home vineyard we have been growing these clones for decades, and they are the star performers amongst their cohorts.

Paul Sloan of Small Vines Wines Ca USA says it best in this YouTube video:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB0vZKFPJBo

Paul’s vineyard is planted in a warmer region than our properties.  However in this YouTube clip he discusses new world viticulture versus old world, and the impact spacing (vine density) has on sugar and acid accumulation at a lower alcohol.

Elegance, drinkability and complexity are highly prized in chardonnay wines.  Not always easy to achieve.  Low yields, a truly cool climate, chalky soils and modern vineyard equipment are amongst some of the most important elements in generating success.  After 30 years of experience and proven research and development we are determined to plant the ultimate chardonnay vineyard.  This is where tried clones, site selection and vineyard setup ensures the future outcome of our new Chardonnay vineyard will be very exciting.

03/11/2022 at 2:34 PM Permalink

2021 Estate Chardonnay biodynamic new release!

The 2021 growing season was very cool yet mild as there were very few days above 30 degrees and the mornings were mostly still and crisp.  The days were typically sunny, with the occasional light cloud cover.   We were lucky to avoid rain at harvest and the low-yielding fruit came in on time in pristine condition. 

The tingling, cooling sea breeze arrived every afternoon racing up the valley where it tempered the afternoon’s westerly warmth.  To produce Chardonnay with fineness it is crucial for the daytime temperature to drop to retain the natural acid.

Our little vineyard faces north, planted on gravelly soils at 100 meters elevation. The site overlooks the eastern bank of the spectacular Derwent River.  Here our vines flourish with the ebbs and flows of the tidal influence and the seasonal patterns. Vineyard management is our focus.  We hustle daily to keep the canopy open and positioned.  This allows for good ventilation mitigating disease pressure.  A healthy canopy provides shade from the midday sun and lengthens the vines’ ripening capacity.  Small bunches intensify flavor, prompting crop monitoring to ensure our high-density plantings are faithful to low yields.  We have a diverse mixture of chardonnay clones which provides another layer of complexity.

Hand-picked fruit is processed immediately to preserve all the integrity and purity of the grapes.  All fruit is tank-pressed first and then barrelled by gravity to the underground cellar.  The juice, on full solids, fills an assortment of barriques.  These are mostly manufactured by small French coopers - with a good level of new oak.  The juice’s indigenous yeast now takes the stage and erupts into spontaneous fermentation bubbling away in naturally cool and calm conditions.  Barrels are topped regularly and battonaged infrequently.  This is how the French masters have been making chardonnay for many generations.  It is a traditional approach that we have employed. 

Our 2021 Estate Chardonnay is fashioned in a classic, old-world style. Light golden straw in colour, with serene floral notes together with, custard apple, pineapple, and citrus aromas.  Every mouthful is textured with rich layers of cream, toasted nuts, and meal.  The tannins are quite elegant.  They drive and focus on the length of this wine together with the fruit acidity, but they don’t assert themselves.  Instead, they balance the wine’s power and opulence.

17/09/2022 at 11:06 AM Permalink

Spring is around the corner

Pruning is coming to a close with all cuts made and tying down is approximately 80% complete. The cover crop seeded in Autumn is slowly starting to grow thanks to warmer nights and sunnier days.

Pruning of the close-planted Pinot Noir is best described as a tale of ecstasy and agony. The view while doing this work is exquisite, the sun is warm and glorious. The vines are only 40cm from the ground so there is much bottom sitting and constant up and down moving from one vine to the next on a steep slope. The only other option is dry tobogganing. The vineyard plot has a density of 11,000 vines per hectare that translates to a planting of 0.8 meters between vines by 1.1 wide rows.

Winter 2022 has been wetter than usual and we’re expecting this to continue into spring. We are prepared, already having purchased a second sprayer last year. This ensures when the window is open, we can operate 2 sprayers instead of one ensuring the job is done on time. Certified biodynamic operators, like ourselves, only have the option of using sulphur, both dusting powder and wettable, applied every 7 days in the peak growing season. We are unable to use systemic fungicides that have a protection period of 14 days. Biodynamics has an operating ceiling for copper use to control downy mildew so we use it sparingly.

As I write this blog we are busy taking cuttings. Some for replants in our recently planted close planted vineyard, some for replants in our established vineyard. Cultivating machinery, inexperienced machinery operators and vermin are responsible for the misses. Fortunately, there are not many replants and the spring rain helps these replants become established.

Recently we bought 2 new heards of sheep. These lovely woolley creatures do an excellent job of eating down the grass around the trunk. Biodynamics prohibit the use of herbicides; the alternative is cultivation. A more expensive and a heavier footprint on the environment. This year we have been blessed with many lambs, including at least 10 twin births and 1 set of triplets. One ewe lost a twin due to a breach birth.  When this happens, the ewe is sometimes overwhelmed and believes no lamb was born at all, subsequently rejecting the surviving lamb. When we first purchased our property, we bought 2 Murray Grey heifers who were joined. Unfortunately, one calf was stillborn.  Distraught, we sought advice from the farmer we purchased the property from and he told us to purchase a bobbie calf (the sale yard was only 2km from us) put eucalyptus oil on the mother’s nose as well as the calf’s nose and behind.  The scent overrides any doubts the mother might harbour and she accepts it as her own. This trick worked and the bobbie calf not only survived but thrived. We used this same tactic this week with the mother with one surviving twin and they are thankfully united.

During the colder months we have bottled the 2021 Estate chardonnay and disgorged our Brut Reserve NV ready for a spring released. If you missed my last blog you can catch it here, An American Odyssey, its all about our recent trip to the United States of America.

Last week we purchased a tow and blow frost fan to help mitigate frost at our vineyard in the Huon Valley. This equipment will reduce our need to burn oil (canola) pots and light wet hay to produce smoke at all hours of the night to mitigate frost settling on the young tender shoots.

We have a new little vineyard (exciting), just over 2ha, being planted at Blacksnake Road Granton, the trellising is finished and the irrigation is being installed. Depending on the weather we intend to plant before the end of September. Plantings are mostly chardonnay ear-tagged for our, Icon, Collina Chardonnay and some for sparkling wine fruit. 

That’s all from Stefano Lubiana Wines.  Look out for our next blog and share our news with your friends, colleagues, family or anyone who loves Tasmanian premium wine.

25/08/2022 at 10:20 AM Permalink

An American Odyssey

It has been, what feels like, an age since Steve and I first visited, separately, the mighty United States of America.  Steve has very fond memories, some potentially ‘naughty’, as a teenage exchange student spending 12 months in Salisbury, Maryland.  Whereas I, as an 19 year old ‘angel’, was lucky enough to visit my sister whilst she was stationed (finance) in New York City.  Steve can never forget the taste of Eastern shore crabs while I could not get or eat enough pizza by the slice.

During July Steve & I travelled to the USA for 2 reasons.  One was to taste as many Pinot & Chardonnays from the many talented winemakers and vineyards based on the West Coast.  Starting at Portland, Orlando driving down to Nappa Valley, California. Nappa Valley is located just outside of the, very cool, yet sunny San Fransico.  The second purpose of our trip was to meet with potential wine importers, to entice sales of our wine to a wine loving nation.

We were struck by the extravagant beauty of America’s west coast.  Flying over the countryside and driving inland south revealed the expanse of agriculture as well as the massive dividing ranges.  America is experiencing a significant drought displayed for all to see as we drove past Mount Schaffner dam, which was dry in some places, and we estimated 80% below the waterline. American people are so friendly, polite and kind, and the wine and food was exceptional.  We visited mostly small wine producers with the exception of one large winery called Seghesio Family Vineyards where we tasted mostly Zinfandel.

We discovered many of the small winemakers operate out of factories dotted in amongst city fringe in the light industrial zones.  Their wineries being mostly large sheds with a cordoned off area, tastefully decorated, for tastings and sales.  Almost all visits to wineries were by appointment only, which we found very frustrating due to our time pressures but understandable given the torrid time Covid has inflicted on America.  The cost to visit winemakers was very expensive, in the $100+/per person range, compared to our experience here in Tasmania (some tasting fees were part credited against a puchase). Vineyards can be large and from what we understood the grapes are sold to a number of winemakers rather than one destination.  This may be so that the grower does not have all their eggs in one basket.  In 2020 depending on the region many grapes were destroyed due to smoke taint.

Regarding distribution, that is a work in progress. Hopefully we will find our match in the near future.  Fingers crossed!  Two weeks in America chalked down to a great experience.

10/08/2022 at 11:24 AM Permalink