Category: Australia

Stefano Lubiana has grown a reputation for making some of the best Pinot Noir in the Southern Hemisphere and this wine continues that trend.

Mr Whirly says:

“ Clean, perfectly balanced and so young still. This wine has so long to go still which is sign of superb quality grapes and hard work in the vineyard. Silky smooth to drink. Will rival a great deal of Burgundies from top producers at 2-3 times the price.”

Alc vol: 14%

Here are some reviews of the wine from various press articles in Australian publications over the last year since its release in October 2010

The Stonier International Pinot Noir Tasting,

6 September 2010,

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

2008 Stefano Lubiana Pinot Noir

“This wine was singled out for particular praise by some of the panellists and table captains. Nick Bulleid MW linked it in style to the Felton Road, as did I, but with a qualification on my part: it had the weight of the Felton Road, but more light and shade. My notes were “strong colour; complex black fruits and warm spices; rich and textured; firm finish”. Rating: 96 points

James Halliday, October 30, 2010

Winemakers tasting notes, Stefano Lubiana, March 2010

Every winemaker dreams of creating a truly great pinot noir.

The reality is that Burgundy’s noble red grape is a tightrope walker. It needs cool, sunlit slopes and well-drained soils to be encouraged onto the wire. The wine’s journey across the palate is a fine balancing act that can come to a crashing end when fruit, tannin and acidity are not lithe and perfectly proportioned.

I love the supple mouthfeel and fine, silky, abundant tannins of good Burgundy.

In recent years, all my pinot noir growing and winemaking efforts have been directed towards achieving that perfect balance between natural fruit sweetness and fine, ripe tannin.

This release of estate-grown, single vineyard wine provides a footprint of my journey along the long road to pinot noir perfection.

Vintage 2008 came at the end of an excellent, almost balmy ripening period in southern Tasmania. Our vineyard’s mean, dry soils and brilliant sunny aspect provided us with some great raw materials for pinot noir winemaking. The cooling effects of the river and our mild night-time temperatures helped lay the foundations for plenty of life-giving natural acidity in our finished wines.

I’m pleased with what I find in the glass. The warmth of the vintage is clearly reflected in the richness of its deep colour. The nose holds the promise of ripe dark berry fruit with subtle nuances that hint of flower gardens, dark Belgian chocolate, and savoury bouquet garni.

The palate does not disappoint. It’s rich and tannic in structure, with roughly 35 percent new French oak adding some firm restraint to the wine’s fruit-driven opulence. A component derived from 15 percent whole bunch fermentation adds depth. With ageing, the wine’s high levels of natural fruit tannin will evolve to add a gentle layer of sweet, round complexity to the flavour profile.

Our 2008 Estate Pinot Noir is ideally suited to beef, Tasmanian venison, and the welcome company of family and friends around a table. It should enter its best drinking period after 5-8 years in a cool cellar.

Mr Whirly says:

“ I am totally excited by this new addition since I have needed some top end Chardonnay from down under for a while now. This promises to be right up there with some of the best in the world. This wine is still very restrained but its beginning to express itself now that its been in the UK for eight months. Expect it to go on and on.”

Alc vol: 14.5%

Winemakers Tasting notes, Stefano Lubiana, March 2010

“ In the late 1980s, Monique and I travelled almost 10,000km in search of the ideal place to grow grapes and make wine. Western Australia, South Australia, southern Victoria, you name it and we considered its suitability for producing the best possible fruit from each of the classic wine varieties of northern Europe.

What brought us to Tasmania’s Derwent Valley – and the north facing slopes of what has since become our bio-dynamically managed Granton Vineyard – was something we discovered that was right under our noses.

What struck us most were the aromas of the herbs and flowers we found growing across this island State. When it came time for us to stop and feast on many of the fruits and vegetables we encountered in these cool southern latitudes, we were once again amazed. We found an intensity and a vibrancy of flavour we’d never experienced before.

Twenty years later, people continue to make the same observations about the wines we have produced from this property.

The latest release of our estate-grown Chardonnay clearly demonstrates that this is not just any ordinary Australian or New World Chardonnay.

Yes, it has been barrel-fermented and left on its lees to mature in oak like many of its industry peers, but there is a vibrancy and an intensity in its fruit characters that still continue to shine through the wine.

Like the red wines produced from 2008, this Estate Chardonnay also provides ample proof that the wine gods were really smiling down upon us during that warm, dry vintage.

In the glass, it is a pale gold colour, with plenty of green flashes that indicate that this is still a wine in its youth. Now 15 months in the bottle, it is similarly alive and vibrant in aroma, with the citrus notes that are typical for our style of Tasmanian Chardonnay already coming to the fore. And the palate? That is building beautifully, but already brimming with flavour, thanks to our commitment to artisan winemaking techniques such as lees-stirring. It’s what we love to see in the glass – a just reward for patient care and effort.

Enjoy this wine now with a range of fine Tasmanian foods. It will look even better in another 2-3 years. Salute!”

Press articles:

James Halliday, 2012 Australian wine Companion

“Bred to stay, still very youthful and composed, grapefruit, apple and stone fruit held

in a tight embrace of acidity;oak has been relegated to the sidelines. Screw cap sealed.”

14% alc. Rating 95. To 2022.”

“A bigger, more powerful, complex and less fruit-driven style than the two previous wines with ripe stone fruit and fig flavours beautifully meshed with richer honey, nuts and toasty caramel notes, the palate deep, elegantly balanced and wonderfully together with good fresh acidity promising even better things down the track.”

Graeme Phillips

The Sunday Tasmanian

March 20th 2011

Mr Whirly says

“ A beautiful wine, as always clean and fresh and wonderfully well made. It needs more time in the bottle I think so will look to sell this wine in 2013 when its expressing itself better.”

Alc vol: 12.0%

Winemaker’s tasting notes, Stefano Lubiana, March 2010

“ People often ask us, “What brought you to Tasmania, Steve and Monique?”

“Couldn’t you have stayed in South Australia and made your wines?”

Well, maybe we could. The fact is that when you’re on a long journey in search of perfection you just can’t afford to get side-tracked or make any sort of compromises along the way.

Finding the right place to produce super premium wine grapes isn’t just a matter of relying on measures of degree growing days to get you over the line. Cool climate viticulture is about higher latitude, not higher altitude. You’ve got to have seasonality in your climate. We experience a genuine spring, summer, autumn and winter every year in southern Tasmania. Seasons are important triggers that determine what takes place in a vine as it shoots and develops throughout the year.

We’re always looking to ripen our wine grapes in autumn. But achieving 13 Baume or 23 Brix isn’t what sends our pickers into the vineyard. Ultimately, we’re aiming for good clear varietal aromas and flavours. And unlike many places on the mainland nowadays, we don’t have to hang out for higher and higher grape sugars to create exactly the right kind of characters that we’re looking for in our wines.

Our 2010 Riesling is a living example of the benefits of latitude over altitude. It has wonderful varietal aromas and flavours, and yet it weighs in with a neat 12.0% alcohol in the bottle – 12.0% and bone dry, that is.

In the glass, there is plenty of appealing lemony/citrus aroma to telegraph its identity. Delve a little further into the wine and you soon find the spring fragrances of apple blossom with subtle hints of talcum powder. And the palate? That’s as fresh and inviting as you’d expect from a young, cool climate riesling. Think lemon, lime, and grapefruit. Just give it a little time in the glass if you pour it straight from the fridge. This is a wine with latitude. Its brisk natural acidity is like an early morning walk in Tasmania – crisp and bracing at first, and then sheer delight.

Lock the wine in the cellar for a decade if you like your rieslings aged and toasty. Savour it now with some fresh natural oysters, or a couple of pan-fried flathead and a few chips. Bewdiful!.”

December 2010.

Press articles

2010 Stefano Lubiana Riesling

“A similar pale gold colour as its Derwent Estate neighbour, but more intense lime essence on the nose and a fuller, more textured and complex palate with some mineral and herbal savouriness underpinning the fruit and running through to a firm, fresh, clean finish.

With oysters at their best and scallops in season, now is the time to crack one of these dry Rieslings.”

Graeme Phillips

The Sunday Tasmanian

August 7th 2011

Mr Whirly says:

“ I tasted this wine just after its arrival on the 23rd October 2011, together with old friend Bob Parkinson ( another ex-Bibendum chef) at his lovely restaurant “ Made by Bob“ in Cirencester. We agreed it was quite sublime. Sometimes Merlots are a little unready, harsh and too often drunk far too young. This is so ready to go now. Damson and black cherry with a hint of a No5 Cohiba. Wonderfully balanced and so approachable for its age. So yes this wine is ready to drink now and will also be great in 8 years time.”

Alc Vol: 14%

Winemakers tasting notes, Stefano Lubiana, March 2010

“ My dad Mario can’t understand why some winemakers and consumers like to single out certain varieties and wine styles as being worthy of special attention and popular acclaim. It’s as if they would like them to be put up on pedestals and exhibited as works of art.

Our family believes the art in winemaking is all about making a product that delivers food-friendly wines with satisfying aromas and flavours.

I love the challenge that growing and making good Merlot provides in a cool maritime climate like Tasmania’s. The variety has a huge potential here. With time, we should be able to create wines that can be clearly identified with the dry, savoury, ripe tannin styles of northern Europe.

The key to success is to produce fruit in the vineyard that shows a fine balance between the briary berry sweetness of the New World and the drier, more aromatic crushed leaf characters of the Old World.

Vintage 2008 in Tasmania was characterised by big yields in almost all of the State’s wine growing regions. At Granton, we enjoyed an unusually low natural fruit set in our Merlot. The vines did not require the heavy crop thinning that became standard practice elsewhere during the warm summer of 2008.

I love the way the variety responds to the grey gravelly soils of our lower vineyard blocks overlooking the Derwent River. When I see our Merlot there with its full green canopy, I’m reminded of many of the sites I saw along Bordeaux’s Gironde in 1986.

The 2008 Merlot looks set to follow in the footsteps of the very successful 2001 and 2003 vintages. It should prove to be one of the best we have produced from our small, hand-tended vineyard. There may not be a 2009.

The wine opens with a deep crimson colour and offers up aromas of dark berries, crushed leaf, and cedar/cigarbox. I can see plenty of new French oak in this wine, but it has been built for the long haul. The tannins are firm and grainy, something which characterises many of the red wines of the hot and dry 2008 vintage. The finish here is equally dry, with undertones of Swiss brown mushrooms.

Our 2008 Stefano Lubiana Merlot is an attractive food wine with a rich, savoury fruit intensity that reflects the season’s low yield. Share it at the table with family, friends, and rare portions of Tasmanian grain-fed beef. More complex cedary notes will come to the fore in another 5 years.”