November 19th, 2013 Paulett Wines 30 Yrs of Patience & Procrastination..and champion wines..19/11/2013 ![]() Matthew Paulett, Ralph Kyte-Powell, Tim White, Dave Brookes, Kim West, Andrew Graham, Nick Stock, James Halliday, Jeni Port, Neil Paulett, Frank Pan, Jim Plouffe, Alison Paulett, Ali Paulett. The Clare Valley's Paulett Wines has celebrated its 30 year anniversary with a vertical tasting of 30 Rieslings, a new release red and a specially brewed beer. Neil Paulett and his wife Alison started Paulett Wines in 1983 and now share the business with their son Matt and his wife Ali. While their portfolio covers a range of varieties, it's premium Clare Riesling that Pauletts are best known for and, yesterday, a bottle from every vintage of the past 30 years was poured for a handful of friends, family and invited media guests including James Halliday. Neil said the occasion has given him reason to step back and look at the big picture of what's been achieved. "From a basis of self-belief, we have developed an efficient, functional and expandable winery," Neil said. "We have achieved success with our wines and that has been gratifying, but the greatest satisfaction is that sufficient people like our wines to keep us going. "We have gathered a group of almost like-minded people who are happy to be with us and to share our journey. "Best of all, we have Matthew and Ali and, hopefully in the future, their children will be working with us." The unique opportunity to look back over Rieslings from every vintage was a great testament to the use of screwcaps, with those wines bottled since the initial transition in 1997 still looking consistently excellent while many earlier bottles under cork had not fared so well. Guest James Halliday commented on Pauletts' history, noting the difficult first year when Ash Wednesday bushfires destroyed much of the property. "It's a rags to riches or tragedy to wonderful fulfillment story; when they moved here and got promptly blitzed by frost, then fire." "Riesling is by far and away the greatest wine to come out of the Clare Valley and indeed a number of people would say the greatest wine to come out of Australia." "The Antonina wines are a reflection of this; truly wonderful, truly outstanding single block wines, they are outrageously good." "There is a finesse, thoroughbred, high strung quality to Polish Hill River Riesling and I think that does come through in the wines under screwcap." The day also included tastings of at a handful of back vintages of the premium Antonina Rieslings, plus a look forward with the first tastes of a new red wine - the 47/74 2008 Malbec Cabernet - and the ?Last Minute' beer. Neil said the 47/74 wine was produced in close collaboration with his son, Matthew, and makes the most of the excellent Malbec produced in 2008. "We have tasted and blended this wine to reflect the power, unity and complexity of like wines merged into one," Neil said. "The name 47/74 represents the mirror image of our years - 1947 and 1974 - and symbolises the transition of the old to the new." Meanwhile, on the beer, Neil said, quite simply: "I like beer." "It is also a complementary drink to wine - there's nothing like a good palate cleanser." "The beer is fermented and bottled in the Clare Valley and is a brew of our own design, in the style of the English extra special bitter. It is cloudy and has a lovely bitter finish. "As for the name... thank goodness for the Last Minute otherwise nothing would get done!" Pauletts Last Minute beer and the 47//74 wine will initially be on sale at the cellar door (exact retail prices yet to be determined). Media contact: Ali Paulett; [email protected]; (08) 8843 4328 More information:Paulettwines.com.auTwitter.com/paulettwinesFacebook.com/paulettwines
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The good folk at Qantas have listed the 2011 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2011 St Johns Cabernet, the 2010 Bartondale Cabernet and the 2012 Bartondale Chardonnay as part of their in-flight range for domestic business class. This is further recognition of the growing stature of the Churchview brands.
Available at Champion Ashgrove, Champion Milton, Wilston Cellars and all Urban Cellars outlets. SUCCESS FOR SERAFINO! It’s all happening at Serafino, so we thought we’d give you a quick update on the Serafino harvest from Charles Whish and some of our favourite recent reviews (attached)…. The calibre of fruit is excellent across the board, particularly the clean, intense Chardonnay which is now finishing its ferment in oak. We’re also excited to see our first vintage of Fiano in tank, showing lots of honeysuckle flavours. Our famous Sharktooth Shiraz block was picked in three stages to capture different expressions of this superb site. Two-thirds have been fermented in open tanks, with the other third in closed tanks; small portions will finish fermenting in oak, to be combined later to create a wine of excellent character. If you’re in McLaren Vale, stop by, and share a glass or two with us! Until next time, Russell Gallagher National Sales and Marketing Manager ![]() After a whip around the vineyard today, you will be pleased to know that the grapes are in good hands with Serafino vineyard manager Andrew Godfrey, who has more than 20 years’ experience. The winter cover crops worked into the ground, combined with the latest canopy management and gentle irrigation have meant that the grapes have been able to survive these warmer summer temperatures. The Mediterranean influence with the vineyard being situated five kilometres from the coast has provided further relief with gentle and cool sea breezes at night. We look forward to another great harvest in McLaren Vale, and cross fingers the evening ripening periods continue. Happy grapes all round! Regards Russell and the Serafino Team ![]() Just managed to get hold of some of this superb 2005 Riesling from Pauletts. Contact us at [email protected] if you are Trade or if not we'll let you know where you can grab some. The lead up to vintage is an amazing time. The viticulturalist is preparing the vines, and the winery takes some time to fine tune the layout. Recently we had this huge crane in Winery 3 - moving those huge tanks around. This picture shows how tight the fit was - he had only 10cm on either side, and did not hit a thing. Winery 3 is the long term storage / maturaton area for our reds - Silverleaf and some components of the Estate Range. Happy New Year to all of our great customers and thanks for your great support during 2012. We look forward to a cracker of a year in 2013. See you next year.
Lach and the team Congratulations to Elizabeth and James on their beautiful new baby boy, Oliver James, born 1.51 am this morning weighing 3.94kg and 55cm. Both Mum and son doing great. James and Max struggling from the effort and sleep deprivation. A speedy recovery will no doubt see James celebrate in his usual style this weekend. Max looking forward to sharing some of his toys with his younger bro.
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