May 2023 Releases: Mapleton 2020 Pinot Noir $55 & Uplands 2021 Pinot Noir $40

Mapleton 2020 Pinot Noir $55

Mapleton Vineyard, situated near the hamlet of Tea Tree in the Coal River Valley Wine Region, is owned by the Laing family, Paul and his parents Denis and Kathryn. The vines are grown on what was originally three adjoining properties, Mapleton, Woodlands and Lynwood. The first property, Mapleton, was purchased by Paul in 2004. Paul and Denis had often discussed the idea of planting a vineyard on Mapleton, given its ideal aspects of gently rolling northern facing banks and rich dolomitic soils, but it wasn’t until 2014 that the thoughts became a reality. The first planting of 1 hectare of Pinot noir was initially planned to be followed by a further 4 hectares the following year. An exciting opportunity arose, however, to purchase the neighbouring property known as Woodlands. Woodlands has approximately three of its hectares in vines, the first of which are plantings dating back to 1992.When the Laing family acquired the property the vines had been in a serious state of neglect for many years. Today, after several years of hard work and a lot of TLC the vines are once again producing some truly amazing fruit including Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and a small amount of Cabernet. Lynwood was purchased six months after Woodlands, and Kathryn and Denis now call that property home. Lynwood has 4 hectares of vines including, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling, all planted in 2003. These vines had also been struggling for some time to produce fruit and in 2017 after the first year under new management only a small quantity of Pinot Noir was harvested and bottled. Our 2018 vintage was wholly sourced from Lynwood and yielded a fabulous Pinot Noir, a Pinot Noir Rose, a Chardonnay and a Gold Medal winning Riesling that also won the Trophy for Best 2018 Vintage Wine at the 2018 Tasmanian Wine Show. Mapleton Pinot Noir 2020 The terroir of Tea Tree produces outstanding Pinot Noir; Mapleton is produced from mature vines with a mixture of clones adding even greater complexity. Glorious varietal colour of vibrant, dark ruby. Classic Pinot Noir perfume of violets, cherry and spicy,dark berry compote. A bold palate profile, featuring great interplay between the juicy intensity of the primary fruit flavours and the spicy,savoury, meaty and earthy elements. Classic Pinot Noir mid-palate richness, silky smooth texture with integrated fine grip tannins on an expansive finish. Top Gold Medal and the Tas Vintners Trophy at the 2023 Tasmanian Wine Show, Class 20 - Pinot Noir - 2020 vintage (3 year old Pinot Noir Class)

Uplands 2021 Pinot Noir $40

Uplands was built in 1823 (making it older than the city of Melbourne) by John Petchey, who landed in 1812 as a convict who had been sentenced for 7 years for receiving stolen goods. After his release in 1816 he was appointed to the position of Keeper of Hobart Town Gaol. He supplemented his income by building boats and establishing an export trade in wattle gum from the Huon region of South East Tasmania. During the first 30 years of European settlement in Tasmania, the Coal River Valley was known as ‘the Granary of Australia.’ By the 1940s, Uplands helped make it the home of the largest orchard plantings in the Southern Hemisphere, growing apricots, quinces, pears, oats, barley and wheat, as well as running sheep. Only four families have held ownership over it in the past 195 years. We purchased the four hectare property in 1997, and today we carefully manage half a hectare of Chardonnay vines. Tasting notes from winemaker Alain Rousseau at Frogmore Creek. Dark colour, deep aromas of black cherries. The palate shows some soft and silky tannin with ripe fruit, good texture and balance. Viticulture notes: The fruit is from Pembroke vineyard which has a combination of 18 year old and 40 year old vines. The yield was 7.0 tonnes/hectare. Usually the older vines contribute about 25% of the juice but this vintage they ripened a little earlier and just started to desiccate. They contributed about 20% of the fruit and gave the juice very dark colour and richness of berry and possibly plum.