With the lunch long sold out, please find below the menu which celebrates the perennial union where inspired food & great wine meet…enjoy!

Union Dining comes to Curly Flat, Sunday May 5th 2013

2012 Curly Flat Pinot Gris (upon arrival)

 Ocean trout coulibiac, yabby & pear salad

2010 Curly Flat Chardonnay

2011 Curly Flat Chardonnay

 Confit rabbit & saucisse de Morteaux, roast beetroot & quinoa, pecorino

2008 Curly Flat Pinot Noir

2010 Curly Flat Pinot Noir

 Hopkins River brisket braised in Pedro Ximenez, onion soubise,

Otway shiitake mushrooms & crisp caperberries

Butter roasted cauliflower

2007 Curly Flat Pinot Noir

2009 Curly Flat Pinot Noir

Lancashire cheddar with spiced apple & currant pastries

1998 Curly Flat Pinot Noir

“Coulibiac” is a traditional Russian dish which is made up of fish rolled in crepes and baked in brioche.

“Soubise” is slowly cooked onions, cooked to a puree, not caramelised

From here we then also bottled our 2011 Curly Flat Pinot Noir and the 2011 ‘The Curly’ Pinot Noir.  It took us two full days to bottle this sublime vintage from one of our most challenging but also equally rewarding vintages to date.  A highly aromatic release bursting with berry cherry nose which is tensioned with savoury autumnal leaves and exotic spice that merge to create a palate of buoyant gravity.  You can’t have good Pinot Noir without at least facing one oxymoron!  As for the 2011 ‘The Curly’ Pinot Noir, we’ll reveal more on that over the months ahead…

For the final of our 3 years to justify the title of this blog, we are now harvesting our 2013 vintage where the cycle begins.  Well the cycle really begins back in September when the buds first break to herald the new vintage.  Or does it begin when the potential flowers are set for this vintage, two years ago?   Either way harvest 2013 is now underway and forgiving the above passages, it is my intention not to waffle on (for a change) but rather let photos do the talking!   We will talk more on the nature of the 2013 vintage over time and of course it is like any other year in that it is unlike any other…

VINTAGE 2013 – An Endless Summer

This may be one of the defining photos of the 2013 vintage. The verdant canopy belies the fact that this photo was only taken yesterday (22/3/13).  Whilst Autumn is in the air, it’s most certainly not in the vineyard as the green spinnaker is out at full, guiding this vintage home.

GETTING READY

Fruit picking snips are clean and ready to go!

A battalion of picking buckets awaiting further orders

One of our French interns, Louis, cleans up our fruit bins to be ready for fruit

VINEYARD SAMPLING

Vineyard samples for testing. From our three varieties, we perform up to 26 separate tests (so far) determined by the variety, it’s clone and its specific location

Hydrometry testing determines sugar levels, but sugar is only part of the ‘ripeness’ puzzle..

Here we are testing the TA (Titratable Acidity) which gives an overall summation of the total combinant acids in the juice. This and the pH take equal importance to sugar. To determine ripeness by sugar alone can leave a wines potential akin to being a luxury yacht without either a rudder or sail. It may look good, but where’s it headed?!

IN THE VINEYARD

Grape eats Leaf! Caught on film! 22/3/13

Chardonnay merges with sunlight, showing aesthetics and function can be in the one package.  22/3/13

MORE TO COME! 

• A day in the life in the vineyard at harvest.
• Follow Pinot Noir, Chardonnay & Pinot Gris from the vineyard to the winery.

For the first vertical we were joined by several prominent wine writers, but with pace of the world, let alone the world of wine, it is almost impossible to organise an event like this where the timing works for everybody.

Our response to this was to host another tasting, this time in Sydney.  Here we utilised the professional tasting room of the wine man himself, Peter Bourne.  Peter’s tasting room provided us with a setting where great light and no distractions could avail, allowing for the wines to take centre stage.

From left to right: Phillip Moraghan (CF Vigneron), Wine Writers; Huon Hooke and Angus Hughson.

For this second tasting we were thankful to be joined by wine writers Huon Hooke, Angus Hughson, Peter Bourne, Rob Geddes MW and Stuart Halliday (Tetsuya’s Manager & Sommelier).  To give the wines a voice, Curly Flat co-owners Phillip Moraghan & Jenifer Kolkka were on hand with insights and anecdotes that have been gathered over each of these 15 vintages.

From left to right: Wine Writers; Peter Bourne, Rob Geddes MW & Stuart Halliday.

This cause of this anomaly falls (again) on the shoulders of the justifiable whipping boy that is cork.  Within our 750 ml museum stock of this vintage there must be a whole batch of bad corks, explaining the alarming strike rate.  Saying that though, all of our magnums are under cork, but that too eventually, will be changed over to screw cap.  We are looking at moving towards screw cap magnums in the near future, probably starting with our 2012 CF Chardonnay which will be bottled around October.

On the whole we were happy to say we had a pretty good run on the wines under cork, with only a few (still unacceptable!) victims of soul sapping cork taint and random oxidation.  But that’s enough cork bashing for now!

The wines themselves were in fine form, as each wine has the stamp of its season also the evolution of its handling is clearly on display, with the more recent vintages showing more assuredly in terms of structure and complexity but without the suggestion of overplaying the subtlety that Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are synonymous with.   This is brought about not only our continual improvement program, but of course the vines are also getting older.  But there’s still a long way to go…

The inaugural 1998 vintages of Curly Flat Pinot Noir and Chardonnay; still standing up after 15 years…

We took notes for all the wines tasted at both events, so we’ll get them up on our website/blog in a meaningful context for those wanting a guide of how our wines are currently looking and what the drinking future holds for them.  In the meantime here are some of Phillips notes on our wines from the 1998 vintage, tasted last Thursday (14/2/13).

1998 Curly Flat Chardonnay: “Mid gold, clear; generous with white stonefruit, cashews, mealy; viscous, moderate acid, good fruit and texture, lots here, nutty; medium plus finish.”  

1998 Curly Flat Pinot Noir: “Deep ruby, tanning at the edges, clear; generous lifted nose with spearmint with underlying dark fruits; still fresh & alive, mocha dusty oak; medium plus weight with viscous, lightly textured, good acid, lively and long. 

In relative conclusion, with any meaningful review, more questions are asked than answered, but we have learnt several things none the less.  Such as less extraction in Pinot Noir, can mean more in the glass.  This is found in our 2010 Pinot Noir, where we no longer use enzymes and employ a gentler cap management whilst in ferment.  We can go on, but maybe its best to make the visit out to Curly Flat where can explain the myriad of elements in context!

What we have learnt is that the journey will never end, as the term perfect is really a metaphoric castle within a kingdom of fools, these tastings announce the quality of our site, its soils and the vines that grow older and wiser within it…   Hopefully we do too.

Our team have done a great job of keeping ahead of the building wave of varietal colour and therefore helps the vines by lowering vine stress and increasing potential leaf retention for next 8 weeks plus of ripening.

Some the Vineyard Team in action, thinning out the Pinot Gris. When asked what the key phrase was here, the reply was “there’s heaps!”

Veraison now underway in our 95 block Pinot Noir.

The canopy itself bears mentioning as its greenery bears a stark contrast to the parched landscape that not only surrounds us, but also runs its drying fingers throughout our vineyard’s inter rows.  Check out this video to see what we’re on about.

Looking at that footage, we have to stretch to recall the record breaking rainfall back in 2011 and the accompanying good winter rains of 2012, but if we needed a reminder, it is here now in the evidence of the canopy.  But this alone still would not have been enough, it goes much deeper than that.  Great soil health continues to increase due to the now 7 year absence of herbicides, effectively timed fertigation, successive years of balanced pruning, an alert team and responsive management have all weaved together to manifest into the canopy we see today.  Nothing good comes easy!

Every drop is precious!

But the challenge to keep this canopy has only just begun.  Looking at the 3 month rainfall (Feb-Apr) outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology, there is a 75% chance of exceeding 50 to 100 mm for that period (in our area).  Our long term average rainfall figures for the same period is 144 mm, but with current drying trend, that figure seems unlikely.   On the other hand cooler days and nights are also predicted, and if this is true, it will take some evaporative pressure off the vineyard.  But maintaining the health of the canopy is one thing, the next is protecting the fruit!  Due to the extremely dry conditions, bird pressure has started early this year, so our bird radar system is now in effect as well as the usual myriad of avian counter measures.

Vineyard Manager Lisa and team member Ron, fire up the bird radar towers, in preparation for the potential avian invasion!

Lisa makes the securing ropes for the radar ‘Hare Proof’, as they like to chew the ropes which can bring down the radar system!

In the meantime we are beyond motivated to do all we can to bring in one of, if not the best vintage to date… but as always only time will tell and there’s still plenty of that until harvest. So while the dry spell looks set to continue, there’s (at least) two things to remember about weather; you never know what will happen & careful what you wish for!

Below is a basic chart that shows the year according to our vines, in terms of their major phases.  In terms of importance, not one of these steps outweigh any other, as they all ultimately combine to define the nature and quality of the resultant vintage.  The seasonal attributes of each year never fails to infuse its unique pattern into the distillation of a vintage.  These effects can range from the sublime to the obvious, and one thing is for sure, you never have exactly the same vintage twice.  This to us, is ultimate hook of wine.

Back to Vintage 2013 and needless to say the theme now, after an inconsistent start (hot/cold), it is now of course generally hot and much more the matter, very dry.  This is all thanks to the intense high pressure system currently sitting over central Australia, that is keeping clouds away and letting heat accumulate.  Eleven days into January, we are still yet  to open our rain account for the year and we are currently utilising our gentle drip irrigation to sustain the exceptionally good condition of our vines.  Alarmingly these dry conditions stretch back to September 2012, where we have received at best, 53% of the LTA (Long Term Average) rainfall for our region.  This is currently the driest start for a vintage on our records with an cumulative deficit which stands to date at over 150 mm of rain in comparison to the LTA. The challenge for the remainder of the vintage is adequate hydration, to maintain the canopy to ensure the grapes achieve optimal ripeness.

As farmers we are naturally obsessed with the weather and we’ll do a blog at some point dedicated to our approach to weather and how for us, and now for a lot of people, is far from just being small talk.

Below is the vine year in review with each photograph tracking the development of our 2013 Vintage.

Budburst! First buds open on September 19, which is around ‘normal’.

Grape inflorescence begin to form, each individual berry is first a flower. This is a bunch of grapes at the embryonic stage!

Pinot Noir Bunch just before flowering commenced.

From Late November to Early December flowering begins. Each of these flowers are potential berries. Stable, moderate weather is preferred for uniform ‘fruit-set’. Please note this photo is not our own and comes courtesy of Wikipedia.

Fruit set takes around three weeks usually completing mid December onwards.  Warm, dry weather saw very uniform and healthy fruit set.

Here is how a bunch looked on January the 11th. Berries are now starting to swell and entering a phase called Bunch Closure. From here, the space you see between the berries will disappear as they swell, to form a tight cluster of berries.

This shows the uniform growth in our vineyard. To have a balanced wine, you need a balanced vine! The next step here is to control the canopies growth, to do this we put a hedger on the tractor to trim along the top of the row. See next photo.

This is the same row after the hedger has been through. We hedge the canopy to stop the two sides of our lyre trellis canopy from joining in the middle. This keeps the canopy separate and open allowing for maximum sunlight inception and airflow.

This photo illustrates what we mean by keeping the canopies of the one vine separate. Hedging is the most practical way to achieve this. From here our skilled vineyard team fine tune the canopy whether it be shoot or fruit thinning and guide the vintage home.

Next phase: Veraison We’ll keep you posted to as when that starts in a few weeks…until then, stay cool!

Last Wednesday (28/11) at Curly Flat, some of the finest wine minds in Australia, joined us for a vertical tasting of all 15 vintages of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, spanning from our flagship 1998 vintage up to barrel samples of our still maturing 2012 vintage.  The wines produced so far reflect the great promise of our site, but we know we still have much to learn about its nature.  Unlocking our site true character, will take time.  For this there is no substitute, and it will undoubtedly take generations to truly uncover.  So to get the most insight out of this tasting, it made sense to invite an array of wine critics to join us in thoughtful examination of the first 15 vintages from Curly Flat Vineyard.  Below is the list of attendees in order of seating (clockwise):      

• James Halliday
• Ralph Kyte-Powell
• Ken Gargett
• Ben Thomas
• Robert Paul
• Jeni Port
• Nick Bullied MW
• Lester Jesburg

It was also great to show our guests first hand both our vineyard, and relay the passion in achieving our ultimate goal of unlocking its true voice in the wines resulting from it.      What our guests will ultimately make of there experience, and our direction, is for their consideration.  We are appreciative of them being there, as well as for the time they took out to come and visit us.

For us personally, the review of these 15 vintages had it revelations, along with some affirmations. Such as how screw cap, in our eyes at least, as a unrivaled contributor of towards uniformity of product whilst also allowing for development with longer term aging.

We used high quality natural cork in all vintages spanning from 1998 to 2002, partial screw cap was first introduced in 2003 Pinot Noir and the 2004 Chardonnay, (also trialing the composite Diam in the 04, 05, 06 Pinots) but in 2007 we became 100% screw cap, and this review seems to vindicate that maneuver. Under review in the tasting, the variation in wines under cork was considerable, especially in Chardonnay, but the bottles that were on song, truly sung.  Especially the 2002 Chardonnay, which has been identified as exceptional vintage for some time now, is still developing beautifully and in a most Burgundian fashion.

Variation from closure (although lesser) was found in the Pinot Noir, and the earlier bottles (98/99) were interesting as they were monoclonal, made entirely of MV6, a dark fruited, yet savoury clone of Pinot Noir, and the 1998 was 100% new oak! The 1998, made from a warm year, still had fruit power (blackcurrant) as well as a noticeable pulse of acid, which in itself was deeply satisfying.  The 2004 vintage was first vintage made with all vineyard blocks in production, and you can see the paradigm shift in complexity.  Over the next couple of weeks we will write up tasting notes, derived from this tasting, of the older vintages letting you know our impressions and more importantly their potential drinking windows.  Once written they will then be put up on our website Vintage Guide.

In summation we were delighted to see that the road, 15 years long, is one built of driving natural acidity.  Vine age is also starting to show its hand, especially in our current release 2010 vintage, as it achieves complexity and power, but through grace and subtlety rather than sheer force of fruit.  Also the slow ripening properties of our site were on display, as ripe fruit slowly fleshed itself out around the bones of that natural acidity. Most importantly the individual conditions of each year were also to be found in the glass.  That is also part of our job, to translate not only the site, but also the season into bottle.  Whilst there is a definite familial CF thread running through each vintage, also on display was how each wine has its own unique character, infused by the unique growing conditions of that year.

There are many obvious elements that make up a great wine, the site and it’s soils, the suitability of the varieties grown there,  the nature of the seasons and our willingness to learn from them.  The only map for our destination, is one made of patience, diligence and respect for the hand of nature, as it is the one and only winemaker.  We certainly look forward to the next 15 years of vine age and getting to explore out sites potential even further, and we hope you enjoy that journey too!

]]> http://curlyflatvineyard.com/2012/12/02/15-year-vertical-tasting-at-curly-flat/feed/ 0 curlyflatadmin Vertical Tasting from 1998 to 2012, Curly Flat Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - 28/11/12 Wine writers tasting 15 years of Chardonnay in Vintage Hall at Curly Flat http://curlyflatvineyard.com/2012/10/15/on-the-run-again/ http://curlyflatvineyard.com/2012/10/15/on-the-run-again/#comments Mon, 15 Oct 2012 02:00:17 +0000 Curly Flat http://curlyflatvineyard.wordpress.com/?p=605 Continue reading →]]>

Click above to see a video of the bottling of our 2011 Curly Flat Chardonnay.

On the bottling run that is!  Last week we bottled our 2011 Curly Flat Chardonnay, a vintage that has not only produced some exciting wines, but also provided for our greatest challenge “yet” viticulturally speaking.  On this we are far from alone as the intense wet and humid conditions of 2011 affected all viticultural areas on the Australian east coast for that year.  Despite this adversity we feel we’ve made some of our best wines to date and it is a testament to our site and to the dedication of our vineyard crew, that we have to sometimes remind ourselves it was such a difficult vintage.

And as no vintage is truly complete until it’s safely in the bottle, we’ll always enjoy bottling for this reason.  This isn’t say the bottling run itself cannot be arduous or is in itself a blast, but when we consider the level of commitment and care through all stages of the resulting wines life, we ultimately bottle with a sense of deep satisfaction which is felt throughout the entire team.  Also it is our multi-skilled vineyard crew, who guided the fruit from the vineyard into the winery, who work the bottling line ensuring the same continuity of quality is upheld from vine to wine. Well done guys!

Next up we’ll be bottling the 2011 Curly Flat Pinot Noir early next year.  This won’t released until 2014, but it is already shaping up as a hauntingly beautiful, intensely fragrant and fine boned expression with great length and carry.  The 2011 Chardonnay will be released mid next year to allow for some bottle development.  For a preview of these wines, keep your eye out the 2011 Williams Crossing wines, as they’ll continue their trademark ‘crossing’ of where value intersects with true varietal expression.

Below are reviews for our current release Pinot Noir & Chardonnays from James Halliday and The Wine Front as well as a review on the 2011 Curly Flat Rose from Tyson Stelzer. All wines are currently available on our new website.

CURLY FLAT 2009 PINOT NOIR 

Tasted 1/3/12.  Review by Ben Edwards (James Halliday Wine Companion 2013)

Bright mid-garnet; a heady and hedonistic array of red and black fruits, Asian spices and subtle floral notes blend together on the bouquet; the palate is silky, deeply textured and layered, with a tightly wound core of super fresh fruit and mouth watering acidity; long, silky and beautifully detailed, this will reward careful cellaring, but will be hard to leave alone.

Rated: 96 Points Alcohol: 13.9% Price: $48 (Direct) Closure: WAK S/Cap Drink by: 2020

CURLY FLAT 2011 LACUNA CHARDONNAY

Posted 19 September 2012 – Reviewed by James Halliday

Picked 4 May ’11, unoaked but lees contact for nine months; part wild, part inoculated fermentation, mlf occurring naturally. Bright straw-green; throwing all the focus on the fruit has worked very well, for the palate is full of flavour spanning nectarine, white peach and grapefruit, with a slightly creamy note ex mlf and lees contact.

Rated: 94 Points  Alcohol:  13.0%  Price: $36 (Direct)  Closure: S/Cap  Drink by: 2018

CURLY FLAT 2010 CHARDONNAY

Posted on 24 May 2012.  Reviewed by Campbell Mattinson 

A key chardonnay release from Curly Flat. Mostly wild yeast fermented. 100 percent goes through malolactic fermentation. 1515 dozen bottled.

An excellent show of power, persistence and overall finesse. A top-notch wine with complexity in spades. Needs time to integrate properly but the way this lingers in the mouth is an experience to behold. Grapefruit, sweet preserved lemons, oatmeal and creamy, toasty oak. The finish is smoky, minerally, cheesy. Love the way it combines fruit power and funk, oomph and finesse. A prime contender for Best Curly Flat Chardonnay yet.

Rated: 95 Points  Alcohol: 13.6%  Price: $42 (Direct)  Closure: S/Cap  Drink : 2014-2020

WILLIAMS CROSSING 2010 CHARDONNAY (Limited Stocks)

Posted on 19 September 2012.  Reviewed by Campbell Mattinson 

There’s no shortage of good and good value Australian chardonnay around but Curly Flat’s Williams Crossing label is still a pretty good price/value proposition. If you want to drink good Macedon gear, there aren’t a lot of options at this price level.

It’s a full, flavoursome, slightly oaky/nutty/buttery style but it’s all lime/nectarine-like fruit on the finish, and the way a wine finishes is always the ultimate arbiter. This is good drinking. Chardonnay to its back teeth and generous from go to whoa.

Rated: 90 Points  Alcohol: 13.3%  Price: $22 (Direct)  Closure: S/Cap  Drink: 2012-2015

CURLY FLAT 2011 ROSÉ –  Reviewed by Tyson Stelzer 

Phillip Moraghan visited this week and pulled one of the most exciting rosés of the season out of his bag. Made in tiny quantities by hand and foot (yes, foot stomped), this is an unusually pale and gorgeously fragrant rosé with restrained wisps of pink pepper, pomegranate and rose petals. The palate is all about texture, consummately refined and elegant, with perfectly handled phenolics, stalks and lees texture uniting to create a silky mouthfeel. Available direct from the winery.

Rated: 95 Points  Alcohol: 12.5%  Price: $26 (Direct)  Closure: S/Cap  Drink: 2012-2013

The first tentative buds have burst this week (on Wed 19/9) and they herald the beginning of what will hopefully grow to bear Vintage 2013.  But with 7-8 months still ahead to play itself out, we’ll see what platform the season provides us…

If you’d like to know more about Budburst, follow the link for a concise and informative PDF article from the AWRI (The Australian Wine Research Institute)

After three months of pruning our 33 acre Lyre Trellis vineyard (by hand), the team have now finished one of the most important jobs that we do.  We’re always happy to finish pruning and not for the obvious reason of just reaching the end, as in reality it is only the beginning.  We can now turn our attention to the upcoming growth phase of the season, and hopefully build upon the outstanding platform that has now been created for Vintage 2013.  We are of course a long way from bringing the fruits of our labour, as that result lies in equal parts of skill & luck, luck of course being the weather.  With talk of an El Nino returning this summer we can possibly expect drier and warmer weather than we’ve had over the last couple of years.  Only time will tell so we’ll keep you posted as the season unfolds.