2024 BEACH LEECH

A funk fuelled Marsanne perfect for the freaks that love to drink white wine through winter. Savoury and super textural with hints of honey suckle and pickled apricots. 

• Handpicked Marsanne from Sunbury

• 100% de-stemmed

• 4 day long slow basket press

• Wild ferment

• 12 month elevage in stainless

• No sulphur or additives of any kind, at any stage

• No fining or filtering

TMI

Super clean fruit grown in Sunbury came off early March. As with many growers in 2024 the ripeness was skyrocketing so the decision to pick earlier than usual was made. Expecting upwards of 13 Baume and potentially fuck all acid we were pleasantly surprised at the 10.6B and 3.1pH readings we got once in the winery. Received the typical apologies from the farmer who is used to dealing with makers that strive for high sugar and don't mind dumping a bag of tartaric in the bins to hit the right (read: bulk consumer desired) balance. In a phenolic sense the fruit was spot on for us. 

Destemmed the lot to get it off the green stems and loaded into the new basket press to try our hands at a long slow multi day press. This is something we have wanted to try since the start and have only been able to do with our estate Riesling due to the small amount and size of our previous basket press. It was exciting to watch the juice trickle from the press over 4 days as it turned from classic clear liquid to an intense brown syrup.

The juice was added to a tank that already had a couple of hundred litres of fermenting Grenache Saignee which seemed to help the ferment kick off and proceed to dryness over the next 7 days and then closed up and left on full solids for 12 months. 

Not sure what the Grenache (or the ~20% of Sauv Blanc that I was later told is interplanted in the Marsanne block) have officially added to the wine but it's definitely an atypical Marsanne and that seems to be a goal with most of our cuvees so we are ultimately rapt with the outcome.