Description
“Blue Pyrenees Estate is consistently one of the best value red-wine producers in the country—to say nothing of its superb sparkling wines. The prices are a gift.” Huon Hook
Blue Pyrenees Estate was established in 1963 by the French company Remy Martin, and was among the modern Australian wine industry’s first ventures into cool climate viticulture.
Today, Blue Pyrenees is 100 per cent Australian owned and is led by Chief Winemaker Andrew Koerner. Proud of the fact that all of their wines are made from grapes grown in their vineyards and produced in their estate winery, Blue Pyrenees Estate are committed to making authentic, world class-quality wines.
A short stroll up the hill from the winery, the cellar door building provides a superb vantage point from which to taste the wines, learn about the winemaking process, or enjoy a glass or two matched with our famous grazing boards of fresh local produce.
Winemaking Notes – NV Sparkling Shiraz (Method Traditional)
The production of “Methode Traditionnelle” sparkling wines has been an integral part of the winemaking at Blue Pyrenees for many years. The Sparkling Shiraz expresses its “terroir” or where it comes from better than any other Blue Pyrenees sparkling. Select parcels of Shiraz are nominated in the vineyard and winery for sparkling wine production due to displaying prominent varietal and regional characters along with soft tannins and restrained alcohol. The Pyrenees grape-growing seasons are generally ideal for Shiraz, starting with winter rains, cool springs and summers, followed by warm autumns, perfect for ripening red grapes. Approximately 5 days primary fermentation on skins in open fermenters is followed by gentle pressing to tank and then racking off the yeast lees to small and large oak vats for 2 years oak maturation. Secondary bottle fermentation then occurs before another 1-2 years bottle maturation which allows integration of the fruit flavours, tannin, carbon dioxide and yeasty complexity. Finally riddling, disgorging and the ultimate fine-tuning (dosage) for consumption takes place resulting in a spectacularly unique product.
Winemaking Notes – Blue Pyrenees NV Dry Sparkling Rose (Method Traditional)
The production of “Methode Traditionnelle” sparkling wines has been an integral part of the winemaking at Blue Pyrenees for many years. This unique sparkling wine is made entirely of fruit harvested from our own Estate vineyard. Vintaging, maturing and packaging also occurs on-site. This dry rose sparkling wine is made predominantly of the grapes Chardonnay & Pinot Noir, but from several vintages, so the aged reserve wine influence is strong, resulting in a mature pink wine. Ageing with yeast lees in the bottle for 3 years before disgorging and release mellows this winemaking it perfect for most occasions but should be served chilled.