Say I love you dad this Father’s Day with SubRosa Shiraz

SubRosa winemaker Adam Louder with his children
SubRosa Winemaker, and dad, Adam Louder.

Every day is father’s day in our house – but the first Sunday in September is extra special.

If your dad loves Shiraz like our in-house Dad Adam Louder, give the gift of SubRosa.

Your dad will love our Father’s Day Shiraz gift packs.

Shipping is challenging in Victoria at the moment. If we can’t hand deliver your order, we will send you a gift certificate for you to share with your dad to let him know his handmade, small batch SubRosa wine is on its way!

If you have any questions – please contact Nancy at nancy@subrosawine.com.

Father’s Day Shiraz six pack

Father’s Day Shiraz 4-pack special – local delivery only

How to get your Chardonnay drinking friends to try Viognier

SubRosa Viognier poured into a wine glass“Viognier is like Chardonnay – but more exotic,” says SubRosa’s winemaker Adam Louder when he introduces the variety to wine lovers at tasting events like Grampians Grape Escape in Halls Gap (first weekend in May).

Every wine drinker has tried Chardonnay and will know if they like it oaked, unoaked or not at all. But Viognier is a different story. Most Australians are new to the variety that is originally from the Rhone region in France.

Today, Viognier is also well known in the new world regions of California and Australia.

Viognier in Australia

While many vineyards in Australia grow Viognier, it is not often made as a stand-alone variety, instead, it’s blended with Shiraz to add complexity (and not always listed on the label). Some of Australia’s best known Shiraz Viogniers are made by Clonakilla (Canberra wine region) and Serrat (Yarra Valley).

SubRosa’s first Viognier was crafted by Adam Louder in 2015, drawing on his extensive experience making the variety at Araujo Estate in Napa Valley (acquired by Chateau Latour in 2013 and now known as Eisele Vineyard).

“Viognier is an interesting variety,” says Adam. “I love its exotic flavours and texture and as it ages it shows flavours that are honey, toasty and nutty”.

Red wine drinkers who don’t like white wine are often surprised by its full body and age-ability. It has less acidity than other white wines and more complexity than varieties like Pinot Gris or Sauvignon Blanc.

Adam likes to mature SubRosa Viognier in French oak for more than 12 months, like Shiraz, which adds texture, depth and complexity.

Why is Viognier sexier than Chardonnay?

Chardonnay shows characteristics of citrus, while Viognier is an aromatic wine with expressive floral aromas and flavours of stone fruits like peaches, nectarines and apricots.

Best food pairings

While Chardonnay is often paired with white meat (fish or chicken) Viognier is more versatile. With its rich full body and array of flavours it can be paired with seafood (rich buttery prawns), creamy sauces (from korma to alfredo), pork and even lamb. For the vegetarians, try pairing it with pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots and squash or a simple tomato, garlic and herb pasta.

How cold should I serve my Viognier?

Just like a good Brie or Camembert cheese, serve Viognier closer to room temperature. If it is too cold, the aromas and flavours will be masked.SubRosa 2018 Grampians Viognier

Best in its class

Since SubRosa began producing Viognier, it has been recognised as one of the best in Australia and top value by reviewers James Halliday, Huon Hooke (Real Review) and Mike Bennie (Winefront).

#subrosamoment

What are you eating with your SubRosa Viognier? Share your #subrosamoment with us on social.

Buy here. 

2021 Halliday Wine Companion SubRosa reviews

SubRosa wine Halliday Wine Companion

Adam’s done it again, our new release SubRosa wines from the Grampians and Pyrenees have been highly awarded by the team at Halliday Wine Companion. And for the third year in a row, we’re thrilled to be named a five star winery.

Halliday Wine Companion 2021 SubRosa reviews

2018 SubRosa Grampians Viognier, 94 points + Special Value 

Natural ferment, 15 months in French oak, no fining. Good winemaking presents the attractive characters of the variety, and avoids those less so. Apricot and pear provide the fruit driven input, with some almond-like nuttiness which is probably an oak/varietal synergy. It’s silky and textural but retains a feeling of crispness through the palate and finish. Drink by: 2023

Buy here

Nancy’s tip: Don’t drink our SubRosa Viognier too cold. If you drink our Viognier straight from the fridge the beautiful flavours, texture and aromas will be dulled. Let this wine come closer to room temperature to get the most out it (like a good soft cheese).

2016 SubRosa Pyrenees Nebbiolo, 94 points

Hand-picked fruit from the Malakoff Estate. Matured for 16 months in French oak. Authentically pale in colour, the bouquet offers aromas of cherry, floral perfume, liquorice and woody spice. A just medium-weight palate, quite supple in texture although edged with fine, savoury tannin, the flavours mostly in a slightly tart red berry vein, persisting through the finish. Drink by: 2029

Buy here.

Nancy’s tip: Our SubRosa Nebbiolo is a go-to in our house. Great with pizza or pasta (the variety is from Italy after all), a BBQ or a plate of charcuterie. Enjoy it as the first red of the night in Winter (before you enjoy our Shiraz!) or as your red of choice in Summer.

2017 SubRosa Grampians Shiraz, 92 points 

Shiraz from Great Western, 16 months in French oak. A gamey first impression on the bouquet, a touch of peppery spice, slightly herbal, the fruit a bit reluctant to show itself. More open on the palate with some sweetish, quite generous red berry flavours, lightening off towards the finish. Drink by: 2027

Buy here.

Nancy’s tip: Adam makes our SubRosa wines to age. They are great to drink now too – but we like to let them air a little (5-10 minutes). You don’t need a fancy decanter to airate your Grampians Shiraz. You can decant our wine in any china or glass jug.

SubRosa Monseigneur Grampians Cabernet Sauvignon, 92 points

Hand-picked fruit from Great Western, matured for 16 months in French oak. 70 dozen made. Blackcurrant, green herb and a touch of mint/eucalypt on the bouquet. It’s ripe and solid in flavour through the palate and with good length, the tannin mostly unobtrusive but providing some grip on the finish. A bit more bottle age will only do it good. Drink by: 2030

Buy here. 

Nancy’s tip: This is a special wine. Our only Cabernet. Adam has worked in the world’s best Cabernet regions (Margaret River, Bordeaux and Napa Valley) producing outstanding wines. It won’t be our last Cabernet.

Congratulations Adam for crafting our amazing SubRosa wines. It’s not easy working with small batches.

The National Wine Centre hosts Grampians and Pyrenees wine tasting

National Wine Centre NWC at HomeThe National Wine Centre is giving wine lovers the chance to visit Australia’s wine regions from home with online masterclasses.

Throughout 2020, the NWC at Home program will work through the A-Z of Australian Wine Regions with masterclasses featuring six wines from six wineries.

Tonight’s event features the Grampians and Pyrenees and SubRosa’s winemaker Adam Louder along with Grampians Wine Cellar’s Simon Freeman will be available as part of the Zoom experience to answer questions.

The wines featured are:

  • 2019 Fallen Giants ‘FG’ Riesling $30
  • 2017 The Story Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier $29
  • 2017 Best’s Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir $45
  • 2018 Pyren Vineyard ‘Franc’ Cabernet Franc $35
  • 2015 Sally’s Paddock ‘Sally’s Hill Cabernets’ Cabernet Sauvignon Blend $38
  • 2015 SubRosa ‘Aristocracy’ Grampians Shiraz $45 – Contact winery direct for purchase
  • Mystery Wine $25

The National Wine Centre is located in Adelaide and is the national showcase for the Australian wine industry.

SubRosa rated in top 10% of Australian wineries

The Real Review Top Wineries of Australia 2020SubRosa has been named as one of the Top Wineries of Australia in 2020 and awarded a Certificate of Excellence according to Huon Hooke and his team at the Real Review.

Rated #225 on the list, it places SubRosa (with only seven reviews) in the top 10% of Australia’s 2468 wineries.

We’re in good company in the Grampians wine region with Best’s (14), Mount Langi Ghiran (45), Seppelt (56) and ATR Wines (100) all featuring in the top 10%.

According to The Real Review, who review 10,000 wines each year, the Certificate of Excellence is awarded to a select group of wineries that consistently produce excellent wine. The Top Wineries list is a national benchmark.

Find out more here.

2018 SubRosa Grampians Viognier rated #1 Viognier in Australia*

SubRosa 2018 Grampians ViognierLeading independent wine writer Huon Hooke has rated the 2018 SubRosa Grampians Viognier #1 in Australia. He awarded the wine 94 points along with Top Value and Top Rank for The Real Review in April 2020.

SubRosa winemaker Adam Louder appreciates the accolade for the little known variety in Australia.

“Viognier is a great white variety for red wine wine drinkers. It’s more full-bodied and has complexity that evolves over time,” said Adam.

SubRosa prides itself on making delicious wines that are value for money, and it’s wonderful to see reviewers like James Halliday, Huon Hooke and Mike Bennie recognise this.

Viognier is a very versatile wine, it can be paired with white meat, seafood and with even lamb.

Huon Hooke, The Real Review, April 2020:

Medium yellow, bright colour, with a complex and expressive aroma of spiced honey and poached stone-fruits, the oak component evident in the spiciness of the palate as well. There is richness and body, texture and fruit, but also delicacy and refinement. The varietal character is well in evidence but not overpowering. A superb viognier, the finish long and elegant.

In 2019, SubRosa was awarded a Real Review Certificate of Excellence and named in the Top Wineries for Australia.

A complete list of the top 20 Australian Viognier’s (2018 vintage) is available at The Real Review.

Buy SubRosa 2018 Grampians Viognier here.

Find Nancy’s recipe for Chicken Pesto Pasta paired with SubRosa Grampians Viognier here.

Want to know what temperature to serve your Viognier? Find out here.

*On 29 April 2020.

The Real Review The Real Review SubRosa Grampians ViognierThe Real Review silver ribbonThe Real Review Top ValueThe Real Review Top Rank

Enjoy SubRosa wine at home | FREE shipping

It’s a bit of a strange time for everyone right now. I’m a people person, so I’m finding this time of social distancing very challenging.

I’m grateful for the technology we have today that allows us to communicate with our friends, family, work colleagues, clients, suppliers and customers.

SubRosa is continuing to operate as best we can under the current guidelines. Our grapes didn’t get the memo that the world has changed – so our SubRosa harvest is continuing. Adam is working around the clock to make wine that you can enjoy for years to come.

Adam Louder cleaning shiraz grapes in bin during harvest
Credit: Wine Australia

Sadly, our biggest event of the year, Grampians Grape Escape, has been postponed until May 2021. So unfortunately we won’t get to see many of our regulars and wine club members face-to-face. But we are often online and always happy to answer SubRosa wine, or any other wine, questions you may have. 

Our restaurant customers are no longer allowed to serve you at their place, but many can deliver to yours – so please support them when you can. You will be rewarded with a tasty meal that you didn’t have to cook. 

And as for delicious wine to accompany your take out or home cooked meal, we can ship it to you for FREE.

We are preparing orders with the highest level of hygiene and shipping our award winning small batch, handmade wines every few days. 

FREE shipping is available with any order of six or more bottles of SubRosa wine. You can order online, via email, or call us on 0478 072 259.

When shopping at our online store please use the SubRosa wine free shipping code: SubRosa2020

We greatly appreciate your support of our small family-run business.

All the best during this challenging time.

Cheers

Nancy 

ps – if you are looking for ideas for a quick and easy home cooked meal – check out the chicken pesto pasta recipe in our previous blog.  

Packing SubRosa Viognier wine
Credit: Wine Australia

Chicken pesto pasta paired with SubRosa Viognier

Chicken Pest Pasta's core ingredient - BasilBasil. It’s all about the basil.

I fondly remember visiting a dear friend of Adam’s in Switzerland in 2018 and every night we harvested basil from his window sill as he prepared dinner for us. It inspired me.

After a struggle (too much water, not enough water, too much sun etc.), I got my own basil crop this summer. And it was a bumper!

Now I’m not normally a pesto fan, but with an abundance of basil I thought why not make Chicken Pesto Pasta for our family.

Alice Waters The Art of Simple Food I searched our plethora of recipe books for a pesto recipe and settled on Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food. A gem I picked up while living in San Francisco after dining at her Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California. Alice Waters is a champion of local sustainable agriculture and is known for pioneering California cuisine using locally grown organic ingredients.

Here’s my variation of Alice Waters’ Pesto.

Pesto ingredients:
2 bunches of basil to yield 2 lightly packed cups
2 garlic cloves, salt
1/2 cup pine nuts lightly toasted
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 a cup good quality olive oil (I use Red Rock olives‘ extra virgin olive oil from the Grampians)
4 x chicken thighs
500gms fusilli pasta (I like the spirals as the pesto sticks to them nicely)

Method:
Using a food processor, blitz basil, garlic and toasted pine nuts before adding Parmesan. Pour in the olive oil as you blitz and season to taste.

Now you have the pesto, it’s easy.

Cook the pasta.

Dice the chicken in bite-size pieces and pan fry in oil. Add the pesto and stir through. Add the cooked pasta a spoon at a time until you have the desired pasta/sauce consistency!

Extra Parmesan to serve. We also like to serve garlic bread!

We enjoy our SubRosa Viognier with our chicken pesto pasta. Adam says that the weight of our Viognier works well with the chicken and the Parmesan and pine nuts in the pesto.

Taste-tested on a winemaker, grandfather and two growing boys.

Enjoy!

Nancy

Winemaker tip: don’t burn the pine nuts!

 

Halliday Wine Companion magazine: SubRosa profile

We’re very excited to be featured in the 50th edition of Halliday Wine Companion magazine (Feb/Mar 2020). Read on to find out why Adam’s nickname in Bordeaux was Monseigneur and how Grampians Shiraz brought him home to Victoria.

HOME AND HOSED

WORDS NATASHA MIROSCH + PHOTOGRAPHY WINE AUSTRALIA

After a career spent making wine in various regions here and overseas, Adam Louder has returned home to Victoria’s Grampians, establishing SubRosa with partner Nancy Panter.

ADAM LOUDER is a quintessential Aussie winemaker. He’s got the drawl and the bone-dry sense of humour, and he’s got the yarns. These include tales about his time in Bordeaux, where top chefs were flown in to create extravagant 12-course dinners, and how he picked up the nickname, Monseigneur.

These days, Adam is chief winemaker at Mount Langi Ghiran in Victoria’s Grampians and also has his own label, SubRosa, with partner Nancy Panter. Adam knows these mountain ranges and escarpments well – he enjoyed a barefoot childhood in the region, which is home to some of Australia’s oldest wine grape vines. Nancy grew up in more humid climes, within a cooee of the Gold Coast’s beaches, but in 2011, a chance meeting brought them together in the US, where Nancy was working in corporate communications and Adam was winemaker at cult Napa Valley winery Araujo Estate, which was later bought by France’s Chateau Latour.

Adam admits that he originally fell into winemaking. “I grew up around the corner from Mount Langi and would go there on weekends to shoot birds during the growing season when I was 12 or so,” he says. “I also did holiday work at Best’s Great Western, where my uncle worked.”

In 1998, at the age of 18, Adam was employed by the late Trevor Mast – considered one of Australia’s pioneers of cool- climate shiraz – to work in the cellar and vineyards at his winery, Mount Langi Ghiran.

For the next eight years, Trevor was Adam’s mentor, encouraging him to follow his instincts and believe in his abilities. He helped Adam to develop his sensory evaluation skills by tasting and discussing wines with him from Australia and across the Old World. Adam also gained from his other experiences in cellar operations, harvest and winery management.

With Trevor’s encouragement, Adam, while still a fresh-faced 20-year-old, embarked on his first overseas vintage – a four-month stint at Napa Valley’s Chimney Rock. This experience not only confirmed that he wanted to make wine, but also that he wanted to work with small wineries and vineyards that grow exceptional fruit. The experience highlighted the fundamental differences between winemaking styles in Australia and the US.

SubRosa wine Halliday Wine Companion magazine profile

“Napa has the best of everything to work with, including equipment and a much cheaper labour force, which means they can hand-pick and hand-sort everything,” Adam says. “In the early 2000s, we were machine-picking everything in Australia. And the work wasn’t as physical in America because they had automated pumpovers with irrigators.” He also found Australian winemakers had a more relaxed approach.

Back in Australia, Adam returned to Mount Langi and worked with Trevor for another five years before the Rathbone Wine Group bought the winery, appointing Dan Buckle to the winemaking helm. By this time, Adam had worked with Dan for several years, learning to innovate and push boundaries. Dan then organised the first of Adam’s five harvests in France in 2005, at Bordeaux’s Chateau Carsin, where he gained that nickname – and five or six kilos, he says.

“I rocked up at harvest and the owner tried to make a big deal of my arrival, so of course the full-time staff took the piss out of me, calling me ‘Monseigneur’,” he laughs.

Chateau Carsin is owned by Juha Berglund, the son of Finnish violinist and conductor Paavo Berglund. Juha was also a well- connected bon vivant and publisher of Viini, a prestigious wine magazine. “He would fly in different Michelin-starred chefs each week to prepare meals every evening – French, English, German, Finnish. It could be five- to 12-course degustation dinners, with some pretty first-grade Bordeaux, of course,” Adam says. “One time it was a bottle of 1959 Chateau Palmer – Juha’s birth year.” Inevitably, Adam became enamoured with the lifestyle. “I loved everything about Bordeaux – the weather, food, lifestyle and access to great wines,” he says. When he wasn’t eating and drinking, Adam spent time polishing his French and Finnish, and making a lot of botrytis whites.

The inconsistent weather during these French vintages taught him to deal with disease and remain agile – skills he could transfer to Napa’s Araujo Estate, when it rained during his time there in the 2011 harvest. Adam also proved his worth at Araujo when one of their cabernets received a coveted 100 points from US wine critic Robert Parker.

In 2013, Adam decided to head home to the familiar landscapes of the Grampians, inspired to make his own wines. By then, he had an impressive 33 vintage stints under his belt from five wine regions, including time spent at Western Australia’s Xanadu and Pierro.

“It was a lifestyle choice,” Adam says of his return home. “There’s a more relaxed approach here. Although you can take it as seriously as you like, there isn’t the pressure there was in Napa and you can make the wines you want to make.”

And I love Grampians shiraz – I love the flavour profile, the pepper and the minerality. You can make an elegant style of wine here, and if I could only make one wine, it would be Grampians shiraz.

Adam first made his own Grampians wines in 2013, bottling 400 cases of chardonnay, nebbiolo and shiraz, the fruit gently coaxed along with minimal intervention. In 2015, he released the wines under the label SubRosa – the name chosen by Nancy, meaning “under the rose” in Latin. “In ancient times, a rose was hung over the table as a sign of secrecy, meaning that what happens at the table, stays at the table,” Nancy says. “We thought it was a great analogy, given we want people to share good food and good company with our wine.”

With so much experience in both the Old and New Worlds, Adam aims to make wines that bridge the two. So, how does he sum up his range? “Food friendly, approachable wines, but with complexity and ageability,” he says.

It wasn’t long after those early releases that accolades came in. Winefront’s Mike Bennie said SubRosa was“one to watch, with wines that were striking for their regional verity, [affordable] price points and deliciousness.” Adam has since added a viognier and a rosé to the range, with an inaugural cabernet about to roll out.

“Honestly, I think we as winemakers are all aiming to do the same thing – to make the best, site-specific wines from fruit picked at the right time. As long as you get good fruit into the winery, most of your work’s done. It kind of takes care of itself. What we aim to do is get the fruit off at the right time and nurse it through.”

SubRosa wine Halliday Wine Companion magazine profile In the 2019 Halliday Wine Companion, James Halliday rated SubRosa exceptional and named them one of the best new wineries, scoring each of their wines between 92 and 96 points. In the 2020 guide, SubRosa again retained their five-star winery rating. As for the future, in addition to raising their two young children Toby and Charlie, and continuing Trevor Mast’s legacy at Mount Langi, Adam and Nancy will soon have a small vineyard of nebbiolo and shiraz of their own. Adam is also particularly excited about the release of their new cabernet sauvignon. “I think Grampians cabernet is an overlooked variety,” he says.

Our Monseigneur Cabernet is from old vines in Great Western – fruit I was excited to get my hands on. I look forward to pulling this one out of the cellar in years to come.

3 TO TRY
2017 SubRosa Monseigneur Grampians Cabernet Sauvignon $45
2017 SubRosa Nebbiolo $45
2016 SubRosa Grampians Shiraz $30

In the 2019 Halliday Wine Companion, James Halliday rated SubRosa exceptional and named them one of the year’s best new wineries, scoring each of their wines between 92 and 96 points.

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Turning wine into water and food for our wildlife

It has been a devastating start to the year for much of Australia. We are proud to support our friends at Six Parallels South raise money for WIRES Wildlife Rescue.

@Six_Parallels_South: “Turning wine into water…and food for our wildlife. Our native wildlife has been hit hard by these bushfires and we need to help our friends that have had their natural habitat destroyed. We have joined forces with Caledonia Australis, @wheeler.wine@cultivarvinos@dirtyblackdenim_winemakers and @subrosawine to create 24 mixed six-packs of wine to raise funds to quickly get food supplies to our wildlife. The RRP for these packs is $230 but we are selling them for $120. The pack includes (in respective order as stated above) Sauvignon Blanc 2018, Umbra Methode Ancestral 2015, Vina Dona Luisa Ladron de Uvas (Pais from Chile), Carmenere 2018, Pyrenees Shiraz 2015 and our Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2017. All proceeds will go directly to WIRES Wildlife Rescue. Please email me at mark@6psouth.com for all orders. Thanks in advance for your help!”