Queensland Wine, Is This Australia's Next Great Wine Story?

Queensland wine sounds like it shouldn’t work, so we taste our way through the Granite Belt and talk through the climate science that makes it possible. Four bottles later, we’re genuinely shocked by how balanced, fresh, and buy-worthy these wines are. 

• Golden Grove Vermentino 2025 - https://www.goldengroveestate.com.au/product/2025-vermentino/
• Witches Falls Verdelho 2024 - https://witchesfalls.com.au/products/2024-provenance-verdelho?srsltid=AfmBOooNItw2Uwj-9Lgnv2x1FfBTV7-VHnuaNohQ0J8g1JlD857UnO5G
• Golden Grove Joven Tempranillo 2024 - https://www.goldengroveestate.com.au/product/2024-joven-tempranillo/
• La Petit Mort Qvevri Saperavi 2022 - https://marketwinestore.com.au/products/la-petite-mort-qvevri-saperavi?srsltid=AfmBOooFi2kpFtaywyFVXeM3qB3a_cfC2X4Cu1rfLxiqYlvkHvfdwVEB

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Transcript

Welcome And Queensland Doubts

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Hi, and welcome to Wine with Meg and Mel. We're here to help you navigate the world of wine. I'm Mel Gil Cruz, joined by Master of Wine Meg Brotman. This week we are talking about Queensland. I nearly fell off my chair when you said we were going to talk about Queensland in this week's wine podcast.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

We've been talking about it for ages, but just get trying to get a hold of the wine, I've got to say, is not easy.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Have you tasted any yet?

SPEAKER_01 1:20

No. Okay, so no, I've visited some wineries, but when the kids were like little when we first moved back to Australia.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

I'm expecting it to be bad.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

Oh no, we went to so we went to the the ones around the Sunshine Coast.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

And there there was some good some good wines. They're sort of more renowned for the bigger reds, and then the granite belts, sort of known for the more cooler climate. I mean, they they are still classified as warm climate wines. But just think about it, it's tourism because everyone goes up to Queensland for the weather and holidays and stuff, and so why not? And yeah, I I'm I'm intrigued because they're now planting more unusual grape varieties.

SPEAKER_00 2:08

Uh, we have to say we are drinking out of our Spiegel glasses today. Did I say that right, everyone? Spiegelau, yes. Uh Austin was having some back and forth with their team, and on one of the ads, I said it wrong. I said Spiegel, and Austin was sticking up for me. And he was like, Oh, it's just because now with her high gem and she's so fancy. Well, that's what that's what he said last week's episode.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yeah, he said to us that it was originally Spiegel, and it's it means it was the town that made mirrors, which is the thing that I took home. I just love it.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

I can't help being so fancy. I'm sorry. It's just it's just a part of who I am.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Yeah, Mel Gilchrist, she's got all that high German blood running through it. My name is Meg Brotman. So No, we're pretty low German, trust me. I don't even know the difference between high German and low German, but clearly it's a thing.

Latitude, Altitude, And Vine Dormancy

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Okay. So yeah, Queensland. Let's start, right? So famously in wine from the equator, you've got what, 40 to 60 degrees? 30 to 50. 30. Shit, I'm gonna go to the city. Is that where they're growing? Yep. Is where they is the position in which you latitude can grow wine. Yes. But my understanding is that Queensland is to the north of that.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

So So how's that work?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Because, well, but I'm going to talk mostly about the Granite Belt because that's where so there's two GIs only in Queensland, South Burnett is one, and the other one is Granite Belt. And the Granite Belt is, and they're both warm classified as warm climate. But because the Granite Belt the Granite Belt has altitude up to a thousand metres in some places, it is cooler. And if any of you have ever been there around Stanthorpe, it can actually get quite cool. I remember one day we would drop Stanthorpe in Queensland. Yes. There's probably a million Stanthorps in Australia, though. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

So I'm thinking about it.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

It's like 90 mile beaches. How many 90-mile beaches are there? And Shelley Beach. There's probably 40,000 Shelley Beaches. Okay. So yes. So it it it the altitude. What happens generally it with latitude? The reason you can't grow too close to the equator is you don't have that those cool seasons which forces the plant into dormancy. And so if you don't have dormancy, the vine is evergreen. So that's why we grow between 30 and 50 degrees latitude. Yes. Because we have the it has to get below 10 degrees Celsius, average temperature of 10 degrees Celsius, to force the plant to go non-iced, to go to sleep, to have a little bit of a rest. And then when the average temperature gets above 10 degrees Celsius, average, it'll send a sign to the plant to start growing. But in tropical regions, which are closer to the equator, so they do make wine in Thailand, but the vine is evergreen, so they get two crops a year.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

I've heard of this. Does that so what that makes a bad why does it be? Why do we not want it to do?

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Because the plant the plants only got so much energy, and so if it's putting it's like having two babies in a year.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

Oh god, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah. So no thanks. Yeah, exactly. So you want to put all your energy into growing one crop and getting that properly ripe. And so they just tend to be, I don't know if you've ever had I've had one Thai wine in my life. It was six and a half percent alcohol and dry and fairly average. But yeah, I think they're just quite dilute. I mean, I haven't drunk a lot of tropical wines, but that's why cream a lot of Queensland would not be suitable for growing grapes because of that dormancy factor. But because these are couleur regions because of the altitude, they can. So the granite belt is more renowned sort of for the whites, whereas that South Burnett is is more renowned for the robust reds, so Shiraz and Cabernet, because you've got that long, warm growing season. But interestingly, I haven't bought anything traditional. I've gone out and bought the new stuff because it's that's what they should be doing. It got became a GI in 2002 to granite belt. But apparently vines were planted in Queensland in 1860. Who knew? I've done a little bit of research on this because I love a little bit of research in Queensland. Oh, you do do, you do, you do. And I I they would have planted with I'm guessing traditional French grape varieties. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

So I've gone and got Yeah, but that doesn't make sense because traditional French varieties aren't what is climatized to a rhythm.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

No, you would have gone Portuguese or something, you know, which handles rain.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

Greek or something, I don't know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Well, yeah, that makes sense. I guess we probably didn't have uh because we were settled by the UK, we followed what was the UK tradition, and I'm guessing that's was more French wines.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Totally.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

You know, because they had all those wars with Spain and you've got me excited.

Granite Belt Vermentino First Impressions

SPEAKER_00 6:52

I'm all pumped now. Are we gonna start tasting? Yes. Okay. So the first one I have is a 2024, there's an all granite belt.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

I couldn't get it.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Wait, so does Granit Belt, is it actually granite soils? Is that why it's called that?

SPEAKER_01 7:04

So yes, it has granite soils.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

The world makes sense again. If you if you've been through Stanthorpe, it's actually very hilly. Okay. And it looks at Is Granite Belt the one that you said had all the elevation?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Yes. Okay. So it's it looks at times, even though there is a lot of lush growth on it, there at times it looks a little bit Grampian-esque. You know, it's it's quite it's quite a dramatic landscape. So it's it is Google it, it is quite beautiful, but driving through it, you wouldn't notice the granite like you would in the Strathbogies, because the Strathbogies just doesn't really have any it's just gum trees. Whereas up in Queensland, you get much more of that rich tropical plantations of of like native plants and stuff. So I've got a 2024 Vermentino. So we're in my research, Vermentino Vidello are two great varieties that are starting to come up in the region, and this is from Golden Grove Estate. Oh, Austin's Mel likes the drama of the crack, apparently, so I'm doing the crack. And we're drinking out of my beautiful universal Spiegeler glass. We were just saying how fine they are. Austin was saying, yeah, it almost feels like they're gonna cut you, but they they are just super fine, they're just beautiful glasses to drink out of.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

And remember, there is a link in our bio because we have how what percent is that it was ridiculous. Was it 30 45%?

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

I might need to buy some.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Are these universal ones? Because I've just smashed all my reasoning glasses.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

I I was looking at wine glasses yesterday. Well, I haven't, my bloody children. And they were just so thick and gross. And I was like, I just can't. I just can't have thick wine glasses in my life. I just can't. Well, you won't drink out of them. There's no point. They're just nah. Exactly. When and whenever people drop a wine glass at my house, I'm like, I actually don't care. It's fine because I have had to be like, I want to use them so they will break, and that's okay. I don't want bad wine glasses in my house, so I just have this like this mindset of they're gonna break and that's okay. You go out and just have to buy yearly wine glasses. Yeah, well, it helps. Everyone should have this mentality.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Yeah, I mean, I just my problem is I have my everyday ones in like a drawer that I use, and then all my other glasses that don't fit in there, which is a ridiculous amount of glasses, I never use. And so when I went today to get some extra backup glasses just in case, I looked at all these glasses and went, I really should use them. I mean, yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

So this is why that's what they're there for for me, the universal glass. That's what it's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

I gotta make sure it fits in my drawer before I buy them, though. Yeah, that's because it has to sit in the drawer. Okay. So Vermentino Vermentino. Yes. So for me, it smells like Vermentino for me, is I always say it's like a fruit salad. It's almost like tinned, you know, the tinned fruit salad you can get? Well, I think it's got peaches and pineapple and stuff. Tutti fruity.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Do you know what? I think Vermentino, Vidello, and Video are just all meshed in one category in my head. And I know they're all three different grapes, but I don't necessarily remember what differentiates them.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Well, Vermentino makes a whole range of styles. So in Vermentino in the Sardinia, very famous in Sardinia, making a whole range of styles.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

And here you've just got like tropical and and richness and stuff, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Vermentino. I've I've Vermentino for me is what I call Tutti Fruity, which I don't know is a universal term. Do people understand? It was from a Paddington book. He wanted a Tutti Fruity Sunday from when I was a kid, and I just remember had all the fruits on it.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

I don't remember it being in my Wessert textbook, but Tutti Fruity. Yeah. It means I mean it's Italian, it means all fruits, doesn't it? Tuti fruity? Yes. I don't know. It sounds like a lollipop. Cute name. It's a bit too cute, I think, of a lollipop. But this is Yum. It's delicious.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Could be a bit colder, that's my fault. Did get them out very early this morning because I had to drive my mum home before I came here. But it it it's I I love it. The thing I like about it, I I don't know about their wine making, but it almost feels like there's a little bit of a solids ferment in there because it's got a wee bit of a texture to it. It does, which I don't often associate with Vermentino. Vermentino for me often is more uh very light-bodied, but this has got a lovely texture to it, and I'm just thinking literally prawns on the Barbie, because you know how prawns, yeah. I mean, I know they're not fatty, but they're very rich or even lobster, morton bay bugs.

SPEAKER_00 11:41

I was expecting it to be flabby and not have much acidity because of the climate. We can add acid, but yeah, no, it's beautifully balanced.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

Yes, beautiful winemaking, yes, eminently drinkable. Now you're gonna ask the producer.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

And this is the thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

We can we put the price and a link in our box?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Well, yeah, yeah, we'll we'll have the pricing. But it won't be cheap. Let's just say that because region 25, I'm thinking, no way. Because uh unknown regions have much smaller producers, and much smaller producers have to pay more for everything to make it work. But 25 is is much less than I was expecting for that. I I can have because of that context. No one's fine. Pardon?

unknown 12:33

I can't look on this.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

We'll put we'll put it in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah, sorry. I can't correct.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Make sure you're following the podcast while you get them. That's a good reminder.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

So yeah, this is Golden Grove Vermentino,$34. But to be honest, it's not like you can walk into a store and get them. I had to go online and they actually came from Queensland. So they were it came from it was wine market or something online or wine world?

SPEAKER_00 13:00

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

I bought it all online and they had quite an array, a lot of it was out of stock. Okay. So I I actually Googled the Queensland sort of wine association hoping that they would be able to help, but they didn't. No.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Well, it does on a website, but it doesn't look like a total of three wineries as part of that association. We don't have a spitune, so we're just chugging, are we? All right. Well, you could put pop in that glass, but we have got red wine.

Verdelho Surprise And Food Pairings

SPEAKER_01 13:28

That's right, I can gape up. So the next one we have is a witch's falls provenance Vidello. 2024 granite belt.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Oh I love that noise. I've got the headphones on, so it felt really it was like really crisp. So where's Vidello from, Mel? Well, Video is from Spain.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Vidello also.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

It was Vidello also from Spain. And I went to a long period of my life thinking that they were the same thing, just different pronunciation.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Video and Vidello, no, they're not. Vidello is so Madeira as well. Remember they make uh a Vidello Madeira. So Madeira is an oxidized, fortified wine, and I think the Vidello is the driest style unless you just buy the standard sort of that's made from Tinta Negramole. So again, I've had it in sweet wines as well. Why are you smiling at me?

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Oh, the way you just drop wine terms that I would be like tintamole.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Tinta negramole.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Yeah. No, it sounded really cool and you dropped it really cool. I wasn't gonna say it because it's more cool if you don't point it out. But now we've had a whole conversation about it. I just thought I I just thought I did something wrong because you were smiling at me. I was just like thinking you were cool. I I wouldn't I I would never tell you that though. So So for Dello, we have plantings in WA.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

Yeah. And it also, I think, formed the basis of that Horton White burgundy. There's a lot in Hunter. Yes, and it makes for me quite neutral, citrus, high acid, light-bodied, moderate alcohol white wines. Very fresh if you have them really crisp and cold on a hot summer's day. And remember the climate, you know. So you want to be looking at wines that will you're not wanting to chug a beer. So you know, what is the alcohol on this one? The second one. 12 on the 13th.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

It smells like canned pineapple.

SPEAKER_01 15:31

Oh, that's yummy.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

You just did a little lack.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Oh no, I'm putting up in your legs.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

I'm putting that on. I don't, I haven't seen that very often. I'm putting that on my uh drinks short list for Andy. Yeah, Meg has an actual short list, and I just use chat chippy to put all the transcripts in and Mel excitement index. Alright, hang on, let me go.$29. Oh, that is good.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

That's bloody delicious.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

That has a real so the first one, Vermentino, was really balanced and seamless and just went down really nicely. But this one has this cool like mid-pallate punch that's fun.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

And it's just going down. The acidity's it's got great acid. It just makes me want more food. It it's not, and it's not as light-bodied as I was expecting it to be. I expected it to be quite Pinot, Italian Pinot Grigio Veneto sort of light body, but this has actually got a little bit more orm, maybe because it is around that 13% mark.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

There's something in it, I haven't figured it out yet, but there's something in it that's not fruit. I think that's what it is. It's not just like mineral. Maybe it's not just like this big like tropical passion fruit thing. There's something, there's a there's a point of intrigue in there.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

I agree. It's not a confected lollipop sort of style of wine. It is tropical fruit, but I get a lot of citrus in there as well, a lot of mandarin.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

I think that's what it is.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

So, yeah, maybe I think you in the mid-pallate, it is all of that more tropical fruit, but it finishes on kind of a mandarin pithiness.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Yeah, I was gonna say like a mandarin peel because it's almost slightly bitter, but not heaps. It's like, but it's beautiful. That's great.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

29 bucks.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

29, Queensland, what's going on?

SPEAKER_01 17:24

And then if you're going up there, just fill up your boot and drive home with the wines because I'm sure they're probably cheaper in the how far away are these places from like a major tourist destination like Brisbane or Gold Coast, say? Well, South Burnett's from Sunshine Coast, is it it from remembering it's about an hour?

unknown 17:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

And from Brisbane to the Granite Belt, yeah, just over an hour as well. Yeah, hour and a half. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Okay. All right, we can do that. We can do that.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

We I know when we went, we went to the sort of furtherest away winery first. Like, so it was, and then kind of yeah, got got a little bit lost. Because this would have been, we just moved back from Chile, maybe 2008. 2000, yeah, 2008. And yeah, it was uh we didn't know anything about it, but I just said, Well, we're in Sunshine Coast, so we went up to the South Burnett, but then we came down for 40th in Brisbane and then drove in. And I said to Pete, Well, there's wineries. He's like, Well, do we want to do it? And the kids were like, We don't want to do it, but they're so set up for tourism and kids and playgrounds, and it was great. A lot of restaurants. Cerame was one of the ones I remember. Um, I'm not that is bloody delicious.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

I was thinking, I'm not sure if I could like afford like a family holiday to Queensland this year. So if like any of these Queensland Wineries associations are listening and they want to bring us up to do episodes, that would be nice. That'd be great. If you could make that commercially viable for us to do this again, Austin's nodding. But also, can I just give a shout out to our local stores?

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Get some in. True. Well, that's fair, you know? Do something that that that would be good, that would fly off the shelves.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Yeah, yeah. And maybe it's like Savion Blanc lovers would like it as a next step because it's still super fruity, but it's not quite as a few.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

And your Pinot Grigio lovers would love it as well. Yum. Okay, so now we get even weirder.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Love it, love it.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

So I didn't want to go Sherazin Cabinet because no, yug, boring. And I also have my doubts. I remember having a sweet cabinet up there. So I have got at Same Producer, the Golden Grove, because I was a bit limited in who I could buy. 2024 Hoven Temperanillo, and that's what they call it. They call it Hoven. Is it Tempranillo Hoven or Hoven Tempranillo? Hoven Tempranillo. That's super fun. Isn't that cool? I do think that's cool. So I've heard I've been reading, and Temperanillo is one of the varieties that they've been playing around with.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Hang on, we should explain. So in Spain, there are different levels of temper neon, and it's it's based on age, but also what they've done to it in terms of whether it's been in like an oak or barrel, uh barrel or bottle aging and all these different things. But Hoven essentially means a young wine.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Yeah, so it's bottled usually within six months of release and has to have six months of age from vintage.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

And then you have reserva, which has to have a certain amount of time in barrel, and then well, but it depends, it's not just Rioja, see?

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Oh, I'm talking about Rioja. Yeah, so each, but yeah, go by Rioca, because that is the most reserva is three years, and that's how much of that is in oak? At least one year in oak.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

And then Grom Reserva is five years and at least two years in oak.

SPEAKER_01 20:51

So Hovind's the everyday drinking pal of so this is a young, youthful expression of Temperineo. Now, I would expect, because they've used the name Hoven, that there's no oak aging in this. What do we expect from Temp, Mel?

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Oh, uh so I call Temperoneo medium. When I teach students on Temperoneo, think medium across the board. It is medium tannin, medium acid, medium body. It is one of those wines that can stand really, really well on its own because it is so balanced, because it is basically medium across the board. And then when it comes to flavors, it's mainly going to be red fruit. If you get into age or if you get into like higher quality, you might get into that black fruit territory as well. But that is why it is such a great wine for standing on its own two feet and not needing to be blended, because it's so balanced on its own.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Yeah, and often in Rioca, it is blended, temperanier with Graciano.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yeah, so they the younger ones aren't as much, but the older ones, yeah, yeah. So the older ones are what are blended because because it doesn't have a super high amount of alcohol, or like because it's just medium across the board, it's really made to be a beautiful young wine. And so they add like Graciano and Mazuello as you get into your reserva, Grom Reserva territory, because they add the structure and the alcohol needed for aging.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

So at a Hoven level, you're expecting almost 100% temperanilla, which is what this wine is, and it is bloody delicious, and there is a level of minerality in there. I'd love to have a look. Seriously, Queensland, if you want to sponsor us for an episode, to have a look at these soil profiles to see whether there's this granite. You know, I just uh see some sub regionalization going on. Get in contact with us. This is delish.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

I have not enjoyed a red wine this much all year. This was the first wine of 2020. That red wine of 2026 that I'm really excited about.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

I've been trying to get into red wine and well, no, in terms of at the because I'm moving from summer now to autumn. So the last week.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

My friend from high school who's trying really hard to go on dates. He drinks mainly Moscato, but he knows that he'll look more sophisticated on dates. He goes, I'm trying really hard to get into red wine. And it's so funny that that same sentence just came out of a master of wine's mouth.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Just in terms because it's winter, but I've been trying non-traditional grape varieties so that I can you know just have a little bit of a play around, transition through. And this would this is the perfect wine for this time of year.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

Little bit chill.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Oh, it's just also one of the things in my research is that they are now looking at chillable reds because they understand their climate. Now, unbeknownst to me until I did my reading and I spoke to a few people, that Queenslanders will just naturally put their wines just because room temperature up there, if you're living outdoors on the Sunshine Coast, is 25 degrees Celsius. So they do put them in the fridge. There's no shade on that because they're bringing it back to what is a drinkable temperature. But this could this is gorgeous.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

Yeah, so I chose Claire's wedding wines, which was last weekend, and I specifically chose reds that could be chilled, and one in particular was like, this is gonna be your chilled red. And what was it?

SPEAKER_01 24:20

What variety? Don't have to say the name.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

No, no, no. It was uh same same from De Borderly. It was it's a Pinot Noir Pinot Mounier blend. And have you had that? It's called same same, it's Pinot Noir Pinot Mounier blend, it's not that expensive. I want to say it's like 25 bucks. It is one of the most gluggable, delicious red wines out there, like just easy reds, and four chilling perfection.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

This is 32 bucks, and I now remember I got it from Market Wine Store. They're the only place that I actually had a lot of so hard to source.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

We're all going on holidays if we want to drink these wines.

Saperavi In Qvevri Explained

SPEAKER_01 25:03

So next, it is a la petite more, the the little dead. The little dead saparavi cavevri 2022 from the granite belt, 14.3% alcohol. I'm not under cork, DM under wax.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

I'm just nothing that you just said is that appealing.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

So cave. Do you want to talk about what cavevri are?

SPEAKER_00 25:36

No.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Okay. Cavevri are clay pots that are buried underground with the lid protruding out in Georgia.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Oh, I actually didn't know the name was called Cavevri.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Oh, so you know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

I know what the clay pots are, but I don't know what I didn't know that's what the name was.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Q V E V R I, Cavevri.

unknown 25:56

Ah.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

And all the hipsters and they're done in that.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

Yes. Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

All the hipsters and groovers got onto them. The thing is, they do have to be buried underground because what happens with the clay is I what I played around a little bit with those with the winery that I worked with. My boss brought them in from China because a lot of Chinese rice wine is made in them. Similar system. And I played around with them. The problem is the clay does heat up. So when you when you've got the earth around them, which we couldn't do because we were sitting on rock, it acts as an insulator. It's like putting a jacket around them so they don't get beyond temperature. Uh, very they vary in sizes, they're so the clay's underneath, and then they often have a stainless steel neck or a neck that's not going to be breakable. So this is fermented separavi, Georgian grape variety. It's a red grape variety, usually very, very, very acidic and quite thick skin, so quite tannic. So when I I hear the word covet cave, I'm thinking it's going to be a high juice to skin ratio. There's going to be a lot of skin in contact with the juice, so it's going to be even more tannic. I'm just trying to watch Odston's face to get a read on.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

The the theory behind the clay is that air can still penetrate, whereas it's like the and I could have thought of a better word than penetrate, couldn't I? It can still permeable. Permeable. That's nice, ah. Okay, that's pretty good. So it's it's liquid tight, but it's not airtight. So we're still getting the benefits of a barrel, but without the seasoning of a barrel. But my question is But it's underground. If it's underground, then doesn't that get rid of the entire benefit of using that form of vessel?

SPEAKER_01 27:41

No, look, it was done historically. They didn't do it because of some hipster groove. They didn't know about permeability, oxygen flow rates, OTRs, or any of that. They did it because it could store the wine at a constant temperature over the really shitty cold winters that they had and the quite warm summers because they're very continental climate. That's why it was done. It wasn't done because I've got a beard and I've got tattoos. I wax now, so the beard's gone.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

No, but that's a good uh winemaking reason. Like we know.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

What we do here with Cavevry is we use the clay, we don't do the underground bit.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

But are you saying that there's no winemaking reason to do it? It's just for fun.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

In Australia? Yes. Oh, the you're you're 100% right because of the permeability. Okay, so yes. So I had when I lived in Chile, I moved and I had an amphora.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

So an amphora is a large clay pot that wine was traditionally made from in Spain, and I got it from Spain and I had it transported to my small flat in London. And it sits in a uh wire, a brace because it doesn't have a flat bottom. And when we moved, when I moved to Chile, I shipped it and it actually smashed. Oh I know.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

I feel like people use the word amphora, not cavivry.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Well, cavivry's as a particular shape, it's more, it's more like a pot.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

So same benefit, different shape?

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Clay, same material, yes, different shape. That's what I'm saying. There's a high juice to skins ratio because it's more of a pot.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

So the theory behind both those should be the same. If you put the same juice in both to ferment and age or whatever, it would come out with similar results. Yeah, just similar, different shapes.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Different shapes, okay. And this, I was expecting this to be absolute shite and it's bloody delicious.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

Not at all, it's yum. I was expecting it to be shit, too. The little dead, and it's 14%. I was like, I'm out. So then the low table.

SPEAKER_01 29:39

Apparently, it's based on a Caravaggio painting. A resident artist Austin told me. And it's brilliant acidity. The tannins are completely in check. It's got a lot of black, dark berry fruit. It's brooding brambly, delish.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

But no, but it's got all the brooding fruit without eating your face off with tannin, which is why it's nice.

SPEAKER_01 30:03

I'm thinking carne asada tacos.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Oh, yeah, noise.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

Because that's got that real string of protein running through it with the grain.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

How come I don't understand the theory of why the tannin? Is it the grape variety? Does that not have a lot of tannin?

SPEAKER_01 30:21

It does.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

So why is my face not being good enough?

SPEAKER_01 30:25

They've just handled it really, really well. Great winemaking.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

It's still quite dark.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

So the the I think it is quite a thick skin grape variety.

SPEAKER_00 30:32

Yeah, okay, so it's really just good winemaking. That is exceptionally um impressive that they've got in it still to be quite dark in colour, but it's not overly tannic, considering it's been done in not even modern vessels. I mean, 44 bucks, brave, good on you. 100%. That's worth buying, everyone. That's worth tasting. But it's worth buying everyone.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

I would always say worth laying down. I don't know how Separavi ages. Just delish. Hey, Queensland. Hey, what? Okay. Well done. What is going on? People, if you're going, I know no one can afford to fly, drive, or do anything at the moment. Catch a train. Can you catch a train to Queensland? Yeah. Oh no, Sydney. Sydney and then Brisbane. I don't know. I don't know. Get up there when you get a chance and get to these wineries or just go online and support them because uh they uh that's buddy delicious. Awesome, awesome, awesome. All good wines.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

That was the biggest surprise ever. Like I cannot believe that they were all really enjoyable. And it's it always is a thing at the end of each of our record, you know how good like the wines were, depending on how big a fight are. Oh, who's gonna take that home? And often me and Meg are just like, uh Austin, all yours.

SPEAKER_01 31:54

Austin can have the vermin, the Videlli.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

Austin's literally already claiming things. He's like putting stuff aside. And I think I might be in for a fight this week. I'm on the floor.

SPEAKER_01 32:02

Well, I'm actually gonna go online and just gonna I'm gonna buy that. The thing with this was the shipping was 25 bucks for four bottles of wine. So if I order a does, it's gonna be the same. Yep. It's two dollars a bottle extra. Not gonna not gonna be too expensive. So don't buy in small volumes.

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Out of everything, I probably am most impressed by the dead one. The last one. I liked it. It was different, it was cool.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

I agree.

Final Verdict And Next Week Tease

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Yeah, well done, Queensland. Good job, Queensland. That's it for now. We will be back next week with I think it's a fun one. I was like, everyone has to find a way to if you were still drinking burgundy right now, good on you. Well done. You are doing well. If, like the rest of us, you were having to find different wines to satisfy your expensive palate. This episode will be for you. So it is more like the quiet luxury wines. If you know, you know, it is gonna be those wines that still tickle the tongue when it comes to like buying something nice, but it's not Burgundy prices.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Yeah, it's not gonna break your ass, basically.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Exactly. So we will be back with you next week. Until then, enjoy your next glass of wine.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Drink well.