2021 Chicane Merlot Malbec

We only have small plots of Merlot and Malbec planted in our vineyard, the vines for both of these varieties are 23 years old. As a result of this, we make 3 to 4 barriques in an average yielding year of our Merlot/Malbec blend.  These 2 varieties are some of our last grapes to be picked at our Granton estate, which is known for its warmer soils and milder climate compared to some of the cooler sites around Tasmania. We reduce the crop load in the cooler seasons to eliminate any under ripe tannins and we pick the grapes when the sugar in the fruit has reached close to 14 baumé.

These small parcels of grapes are hand picked then destemmed and spontaneous fermentation with natural yeasts slowly starts after a short cold soak.  Once fermented the wine is left on skins for a time before the wine is drained and the skins are basket pressed.  We use a basket press for all of our red wines.  Basket pressing is a gentle process which reduces oxidation during pressing compared to a tank press.  This type of pressing tends to save the wine from any astringent characters on the finish that can be overly dry or sometimes bitter.

Maturation is the next important step.  The wine is barrelled down to our underground cellar where it is stored in French oak barriques for 16 months, with 30% new oak.  This wine is bottled under cork with no fining. Bottled in July 2022 our Chicane has been cellared for almost 2 years before release ensuring the wine is well-rounded and the tannins have softened ready to be relished.

The hue is dark scarlet velvet red and the nose is a sweet bouquet of wild bramble, mid summer rose, musk and molasses.  The palate tastes like raspberries that are so ripe they are falling apart, black cherries, plump blackberries, as well as aromatic cedar and spice. The front palate texture is silky and plush with depth and dry chalky tannins that have a pomegranate and rhubarb texture and after taste.  Merlot and Malbec varieties are graced with a full-bodied mouthfeel and length and, in these departments, this wine does not disappoint. The food match for this wine is game meat of all sorts, lamb, venison, mushrooms and vintage aged cheddar cheese. 

12/04/2024 at 2:00 PM Permalink

Growing Season 2023-2024 Report

The 2023 winter was the driest in many years which resulted in consistent wallaby and hare invasion, snacking on 1-2 tonnes of potential premium crops.  Crop damage was reduced once our fences were repaired.  Our flock of sheep, who kindly mow the grass over winter, were relocated to our western property at Hayes, 28km from Granton, in the last week of September.  This was due to the earlier than usual bud burst in early October which is approximately, 10 days earlier than the norm.

In general, the growing season of 2023-24 was dominated by warm overcast days with a major rain event of 20mm in the second week of January 2024.  We also experienced high winds at flowering in early December that may have contributed to poor flowering set in some of our more exposed plantings.  Yields, particularly in our Chardonnay vineyards are better this season compared to last but it is too early to tell if yields will exceed 2023.  Quality winemaking causes yields to be managed, if the weather does not do it for us.

Verasion commenced in the third week of January however lately the evenings and mornings have been very cool if not cold.  Overnight temperatures have gotten down as low as 10 degrees celsius, slowing ripening.  Delayed ripening is good in our case as it builds flavour whilst the sugar content increases.

Netting of the vineyard is expected to take place this week beginning the 5th of February. Depending on the weather we are expected to start harvest between the 20th and 26th of February with the intake of sparkling fruit.  The lowest yielding premium wines will follow soon after with Sasso Pinot Noir and then Single Block Pinot Noirs.

Generally speaking we are very happy with the current shape of our vineyards.  We have controlled the weeds much better this season with consistent blading and tilling, we managed to repair a lot of the damaged infrastructure as a result of machinery use rather than synthetic sprays.  Drip lines, irrigation sub mains, broken steel and wooden posts, trellis wires and some replants have mostly been ticked off the repair list.  Although repairs and maintenance of our vineyard are not the most exciting and glamorous parts of our business, they are worth the investment in producing an excellent result and quality wine.

06/02/2024 at 10:00 AM Permalink

2023 Pinot Gris

Our Pinot Gris is grown on a gravel base covered in red loam with patches of riverbed silt.  Facing north this soil forms part of the western bank of the Derwent river.  Our Pinot Gris plot was planted in 1991, the vines now being close to 30 years old.  The vine’s root system is now well established deep into the soil horizons below.  The gravel element infuses a perfumed aroma and contributes savouriness and minerality to the palate.  Southern Tasmania allows its crops a long and mostly mild and dry ripening period bestowing tiers of flavour.  This wine’s texture is generally attributed to barrel fermentation.  As well, the grape’s thick skins and the vine’s low yields, often unique to cool climate biodynamic viticulture, creates body.  Steve and Marco artfully and skillfully ferment the grapes into wine that is more akin to European Pinot Gris examples rather than those produced in Australia.  This is due to small batch winemaking where the grapes are processed as soon as they are picked and the must is fermented on full lees in puncheons (100% 500L French oak barrels) with a portion chilled and left on skins for 2 nights.  Colour and tannin are extracted by this cold soaking technique.  Rested over winter in the same puncheons, the wine is then bottled in early summer.

Tasting note: In the glass our 2023 Pinot Gris shows a slight golden blush. The nose builds with cut straw, rose perfume and spice.  The palate's texture is lucious with ripe fruit characters, apricot, pear and quince.  The ample tannin and alcohol cut the palate's sweetness, as the 2023 vintage is less dry than the past 2 vintages, and the finish is long and clean.  We recommend matching this wine with delicious white meat dishes, assorted cheeses and lightly sautéed summer greens.

09/01/2024 at 2:00 PM Permalink

Spring in our Vineyards

The agony and the ecstasy of cultivating biodynamic vines at Stefano Lubiana Wines is not without its challenges, but there is nothing else we would rather do and it brings us much joy.  When we first arrived in pristine Tasmania, 35 years ago as a young couple, we could only dream that the vineyard would invoke so much passion in us and drive us everyday.  Most days I walk the dogs, and stop along the way to tuck, weed or even simply admire the vines and their exquisite view.  Spring is especially beautiful with the many shades of green drenching the landscape.  Vines are like magnets they draw you in and once you begin to touch it’s hard to let go.  I think the vines impart a gratitude, a healing and a calmness that is hard to find elsewhere, and it is an offering of thanks for looking after them.  The feeling would be similar to walking through and admiring a botanic garden, basking in the wonders of its colours that leave an impression on both the conscious and the subconscious.

I must admit, the lifestyle of a vigneron is very selfish and leaves little time for much else.  It is always a race to fit in as much as we can before the season changes, from pruning, to canopy management, to harvest and so the cycle continues.  Having a vineyard is like having a child - dearly loved, there is never too much love or time that can be given to it.

At the moment we are racing to tuck the vines up into the trellis, directing the lush, supple vertical growth.  Canopy management this way ensures the vines receive more sunlight and ventilation, securing the upcoming gradual and timely ripening as well as ensuring low disease pressure.

Terroir is the hero of Stefano Lubiana Wines’ story. In order to manage our soils we cultivate them.  We mostly adhere to the biodynamic calendar’s barren phase during cultivation.  Therefore, the day after the full moon, we commence working the soil with our Braun mid-mount cultivator with a blade attachment. After the next full moon we alternate with the Bruan star tiller.  The tiller flicks the soil  back to where the grass and weeds were removed by the blades.  The blade cultivator attachment has wings, similar in shape to an aeroplane wing, one is attached to each side of the tractor.  The blade action swings in and out between the vines cutting and pulling out some soil grass and weeds that have grown since the last till.  This pattern of tilling and blading repeats throughout the year preventing grass and weeds from thieving the moisture and nutrients from the soil.  Our homemade compost is full of bacteria and nutrients that replenishes the soils.  We dress the vineyard with this material just prior to flowering ensuring the vines have the nutrients they need to set fruit.

As well as the cultivator, a  mower is hitched to the back of my tractor.  It slashes the mid-row, this singular action doing two jobs in one pass - saving soil compaction, diesel and time.  An important benefit of  cultivation is its capacity to impart oxygen below the surface and releases minerals and fertiliser from compacted zones, essential for improving our poor soils.  Access to these elements stimulates the vines to push growth to the top of the trellis.  Tall healthy organic canopies photosynthesis at an optimum level growing and ripening high quality fruit that imparts complexity, poise and precision to the wine.  Tasmania’s cool climate ensures ripening happens slowly so that flavour and structure manifest along the way.

While I’m in the vineyard, Stefano is busy repairing machinery and fixing breakdowns, his problem solving aptitude and intuitive brain can apply itself to the workings of all sorts of technology.  He is irreplaceable, and we are forever grateful.  He also manages our little plot of, mostly, Chardonnay at our newly planted vineyard on Blacksnake Road.  He is regularly in and out of the winery to mentor our son Marco who is stepping up to the winemaking role. He helps Phoebe and I with marketing, admin and contributes to the overall wellness of our little wine business.  Stefano and I, Marco and Phoebe are only part of our team.  Christopher, Chris, Bradey, Molly, Tim, Adelia, Keira, Isabella, Joel and many others contribute to our triumphs daily.

When you share a bottle of Stefano Lubiana, appreciate and know we’re working every day to create wines that carry the essence of our unique terroir and the soul of our Tasmanian estate.

06/12/2023 at 8:16 AM Permalink

2021 Vintage

The 2021 growing season was met with a wet winter allowing the soil to take in vital water for the season ahead. Spring was thankfully dry with budburst occuring at the end fo August. Cooler temperatures during the ripening season allowed for steady accumulation of sugar and phenolics with the wines from 2021 showing bright acidity, perfect for aging. 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!

16/08/2023 at 2:32 PM Permalink

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