Anderson & Marsh wines. Image Credit: Tourism North East
ANDERSon & Marsh Catani Blanc de Blancs
First made in 2014 and intended to emulate the fine, racy, pure styles of Blanc de Blancs that they have always enjoyed, the Eleana and Jo sought out the coolest sites in the region. Premium parcels of hand-picked Chardonnay were selected from the Nicholson and Dalbosco vineyards in Porepunkah at the cool southern end of the Alpine Valleys wine region in Victoria’s mountainous north east.
Hand picked at low sugar level to retain high natural acid, the fruit is whole bunch pressed and fermented in small parcels, some with selected yeast and some fermented using indigenous yeasts. The wine has minimal sulphur added at the completion of ferment to prevent malolactic fermentation. The base wine is left on yeast lees for 9 months prior to tiraging, then spends 5 years on lees in tirage. It is then riddled and disgorged, liqueured with aged reserve wines and a low dosage of 3 – 4 g/L sugar. The bottles are then resealed using crown seals to ensure freshness and consistency for the consumer.
anderson & marsh PARELL ALBARINO
In 2018, before the release of the first vintage of Catani, a local parcel of Albarino became available. Both Eleana and Jo were very interested in making this renowned Spanish variety, but it didn’t quite fit into either of their individual brands so the decision was made to purchase the fruit and release it under their joint label.
Now sourced from the Greenacres vineyard, the fruit is hand picked then crushed to release the flavour from the skins prior to pressing. The first run juice is sent to stainless steel tank, where it is cold settled, then racked cleanly and fermented with selected yeast at cool temperatures to retain the gorgeous aromatics of the variety. The next juice out of the press goes to a large aged puncheon where it ferments on full solids with indigeneous yeast. The wines spend 5 months on yeast lees, often with either full or partial malolactic fermentation to temper the high natural acidity, prior to bottling.
anderson & marsh PARELL TEMPRANILLO
After the addition of Albarino to the range in 2018, it made sense for Eleana and Jo to release the famous red Spanish variety, Tempranillo, alongside. They both have extensive experience with the variety, producing it for their indiviual brands.
They chose to source the fruit from the original planting of the variety at the Greenacres vineyard. For this wine they make their individual components completely separately, hand harvesting their own parcel of fruit at the maturity level they each for their desired style then taking it back to their own wineries and making it in their house style. For Eleana, this means slightly riper fruit that is fully crushed then worked quite hard during ferment to produce an intense, full bodied, savoury wine. For Jo the means a portion of whole bunch (about 25%) with the remainder whole berry and lightly plunged twice a day to produce a perfumed wine with a bright, lithe tannin structure. The two parcels are blended together just prior to bottling