Happy New Year and welcome to the January edition of Instinctively Curious, the Two Hands Wines monthly newsletter.
In this month’s edition we have updates from the vineyard and winemaking teams on the 2024 season, event updates and we take a look at a summer favourite, The Boy Riesling.
AT HOLY GRAIL VINEYARD
VERAISON
Veraison (“verr-ray-zohn”) is under way across our estate vineyards as the countdown to the start of Vintage 2024 begins. During this important period the grapes begin to develop their flavour and aroma as the skin colour changes from green to red/purple for the red varieties and almost translucent for the white grapes. As the sugar levels develop the natural acidity decreases, the key is to find just the right balance of all these factors and pick the grapes when the flavours are exactly where the winemaking team want them to be.
Peter and his team carefully manage the vineyard to allow for protection from the sun whilst at the same time ensuring enough light gets through the canopy for the fruit to ripen and for the flavours to develop. The next 6 weeks are extremely important and will play a large part in the resulting profile and wine characteristics.
IN THE WINERY
VINTAGE 2024
This week the winery team took delivery of a batch of new barrels. After extensive trials to determine the most suitable barrels for the Two Hands style, these French oak barrels from Saury are unwrapped, cleaned and waxed by Jordan and Theo in preparation for the start of vintage. 100% French oak sourced from Burgundy and Bordeaux, these barrels will allow our wines to develop and mature without imparting too much strong oak flavour. These barrels will mostly be used for Ares and our Single Vineyard Series Shiraz.
We run oak trials each year with a selection of barrels from several producers. This helps us establish the most suitable option for the wine style we are making. I prefer medium toast barrels as they do not impart any strong smokey bacon type flavours in to the wine and can be used for different varietals from Chardonnay to Shiraz. The waxing process is for sterility reasons. It keeps the top of the barrels clean and prevents any bacterial risk.
RICHARD LANGFORD
EVENTS
SANTOS TOUR DOWN UNDER
COLLAB WITH SEPPELTSFIELD ROAD DISTILLERS
Tuesday was Stage 1 of the 2024 Santos Tour Down Under, where some of the best cyclists in the world raced through the beautiful Barossa Valley. We co-hosted an event with our friends and neighbours, Seppeltsfield Road Distillers, and had the privilege of watching the tour ride through Marananga three times.
Massive thanks to SRD for sharing their space with us for the race!
2024 INTERSTATE EVENTS
2024 is going to be a busy year for the team with a lot of events planned throughout the year.
We’re planning to visit Canberra, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and the Gold Coast for Wine Club dinners and Cellar Door events throughout the year. Keep an eye on our events page for future announcements and to see where we will be.
Interested in hosting a private tasting whilst we are in your city? We can host private tastings for groups of 15 or more people in your home, office or club.
Contact Luke to find out when we will be in your area.
INTERNATIONAL EVENTS
While we would love an excuse to make an overseas trip, in the era of online video meetings we can organise a virtual tasting with you and your wine club or friend group. Get in touch!
PROWEIN 2024
Co-owner and General Manager, Pierre-Henri, is on the way back to Germany in March for one of the largest international trade events on the calendar.
Want to say G’Day? You will find him in HALL 14 / B29
WINE OF THE MONTH
2023 THE BOY
EDEN VALLEY RIESLING
Summer is well and truly here with some hot weather predicted for the next week or so, perfect weather for a cold, refreshing glass of Riesling. Our 2023 The Boy Eden Valley Riesling is sourced from 100+ year old vines at Mengler Hill. Located between 450-500 metres, this is one of the highest points of the Eden Valley allowing for longer, cooler ripening and crisp acidity.
2023 The Boy presents in the glass with light straw tones. The bouquet is very lifted and zesty, a high aromatic profile of sliced apple, mint, pear, lychee, lemon and sherbet. This wine is already offering great sheer drinking pleasure, it shows the great restrain and power that the best examples of Eden Valley Riesling can possess. This will age effortlessly and will drink well at all stages of its evolution.
MICHAEL TWELFTREE
Rachel was born in Yorkshire, England and has travelled the world on a motorbike with her husband ‘Skip’. Rachel moved to the Barossa after a holiday in 2019 and loves the active community in her hometown of Greenock. She joined the Cellar Door team backed by 30 years of experience in working in the travel and tourism industry. Some of her favourite international wine regions after all of her years of travelling include Argentina, Chile and North America.
