Category: #subrosamoment

Rave reviews from Huon Hooke for our new release wines

Nancy

Huon, we couldn’t agree more with your assessment of our wines. A couple of comments in particular caught our attention. Read on to find out which comments go with which wine.

– Drive and elegance
– Ripping shiraz
– Supple tannins and excellent balance
– Pretty and easy going
– Long, resonating finish

SubRosa 2019 Malakoff Estate Shiraz

95/100
Deep colour and aromas of fresh-turned earth, plum, spices and overtones of graphite and ironstone. The wine is intense and focused, taut and precise on the tongue. Lovely wine of real concentration and focus, drive and elegance, the stony mineral theme running throughout. A ripping shiraz, great to drink now and has a bright future.
Drink: 2022–2034

Top rank, #1 in 2019 Shiraz from the Pyrenees

SubRosa 2019 Grampians Pyrenees Shiraz

SubRsa 2019 Grampians Pyrenees Shiraz91/100

Deep colour; aromas of fresh-turned earth and plum and a whiff of star anise. Medium-full bodied shiraz with supple tannins and excellent balance. Good early drinking shiraz which will also keep well.
Drink: 2022–2031

SubRosa 2019 Pyrenees Nebbiolo

91/100
Medium-full red with a purple trim, bright and attractive. There are dried-herb, sweet berry and floral aromas, more fruity and aromatic than expected of nebbiolo, while the palate is medium-bodied and quite mild in its tannins. Gentle sweet berry fruit leads. It’s a moderately complex, fruit-driven wine, pretty and easygoing—just a mild kick of firmness lingering on the farewell to remind us of the grape.
Drink: 2022–2029

SubRosa 2021 Grampians Viognier 

94/100
Light, bright yellow hue leads into a creamy, talcy, nutty, savoury barrel-fermented style of bouquet, wheaty/mealy and quite complex. The spice/apricot fruit is a little hidden just now. In the mouth, it’s intense and medium-full bodied, with richness and roundness typical of this grape. Long, resonating finish. Very good, but it could benefit from another year to tone down the oak.

Purchase your new release SubRosa wine here.

Easter food and wine pairings

Nancy

Easter is a busy time of year in the winery, but for most Australians, it means an extra long weekend and a road trip to visit friends and family. 

We’re lucky to enjoy Easter at home, hopefully Adam will be able to duck out of the winery for at least one meal!

What wine do you pair with your Easter feast? We’ve put together a few suggestions. 

Good Friday: Fish 

Fish is traditionally served on Good Friday. We love grilled fish (with a little seasoning – see below), especially Snapper or Barramundi. We often serve it with homemade fries, tartare sauce and some home grown lemon. 

While Chardonnay is frequently recommended as a pairing suggestion with fish, we enjoy our Grampians Viognier (textural with crispness, richness and body). 

Easter Sunday: Lamb 

We’re lucky, the Grampians is also lamb country! On Easter Sunday, we’ll be serving Lamb rack with roast veggies including home grown chat potatoes (first time success with growing potatoes!) and tomato and onion bake. 

Rich, structured wines work well with lamb as the tannin helps balance the fattiness of the meat. Our SubRosa Nebbiolo, Grampians Shiraz or Grampians Cabernet would pair beautifully. 

Enjoy making memories with those you love this Easter. 

Buy our Easter Feast SubRosa wine six-pack

  • 2021 SubRosa Grampians Viognier x2
  • 2018 SubRosa Nebbiolo x1
  • 2018 SubRosa Grampians Shiraz x 1
  • 2019 SubRosa Grampians Shiraz x 2

$245 + free shipping 

Limited availability. Available for purchase until 10am, 6 April, or until sold out.

Our favourite seasoned flour mix: 

  • 1 tbsp. oregano (can also add tarragon, marjoram and/or sage)
  • 1 tsp. ground chilli (adjust to taste)
  • 1 tbsp. black peppercorns
  • 1 tbsp. paprika
  • 1 tbsp. onion flakes
  • 1 tbsp. rock salt
  • 3 tbsp. of dried garlic
  • 450 g plain flour 

Blitz the herbs and then mix with the flour. 

This seasoning can be used on fish or chicken, grilled or baked and can be kept in the pantry in an air tight container for months. 

📸 Lamb rack by SubRosa wine lover Kate McClure

Chocolate and wine pairing

Nancy

Red wine and dark chocolate make a wonderful pairing

When you love chocolate AND wine, you naturally find a way to make them work together!

Adam is a chocoholic. There is barely a day that goes by that doesn’t include chocolate! Mostly cadbury dairy milk.

As Easter is just around the corner, we thought we’d share with you why chocolate and wine pair beautifully and which wines we would enjoy with chocolate.

Characters of chocolate

Dark chocolate

Dark Chocolate is intense thanks to 70 – 100% cacao (Nancy loves 70% but is not a fan of 100% cacao chocolate!). You will find a combination of fruit, earth, wood, ash and nut notes. The intense flavours of dark, rich chocolate call for bolder, denser wines. Big and big work.

Varietal matches: We enjoy rich dark chocolate with our newly released 2019 Malakoff Estate Shiraz. This bold Shiraz from the warmer climate of the Pyrenees has bright yet rich fruit flavours. Our 2017 Grampians Cabernet would also pair beautifully.

Milk chocolate

Milk chocolate (Adam’s favourite) is higher in milk and sugar and has a smaller percentage of cacao than dark chocolate. This makes it sweeter and milder with flavours including cocoa, cream, nuts, malt, vanilla and honey.

Varietal matches: Milk chocolate characteristics pair well with wines that are lighter, savoury and/or fruity. We enjoy our 2019 Pyrenees Nebbiolo or 2019 Grampians Pyrenees Shiraz as the complex savoury characteristics of our SubRosa wines complement milk chocolate.

White chocolate

White chocolate isn’t a true chocolate as it doesn’t include cocoa, but its rich sweet flavours of cream, honey and vanilla make it a great pairing with bright aromatic and fruity wines.

Varietal matches: Our 2021 Grampians Viognier would be our go to as the apricot, stonefruit and ginger notes enhance the flavours of white chocolate (or chocolate mousse). Crisp sparkling is also another favourite pairing in our house.

What’s your favourite chocolate and wine pairing?

We all have a unique palate, likes and dislikes. So give it a go. Experiment with chocolate and wine and discover what works best for you. Have fun!

Wine offer, with free shipping, for your Easter Feast

Like to conduct your own wine and chocolate pairings this Easter? We’ve put together an Easter Feast 6-pack. It includes wines in this article, as well as our new release 2019 Grampians Shiraz.

Order by April 5 to receive free shipping. (Enter code: SREaster6)

Top 10 things to do with kids in the Grampians wine region this Easter

Nancy
Bunjil Shelter in the Grampians
Bunjil Shelter

Here are our top ten things to do with kids in the Grampians wine region this Easter.

We love living in the Grampians. We live here because Adam is passionate about working with Grampians grapes (especially Shiraz). It’s a spectacular part of the world and worth exploring. We never leave home without a picnic rug, scooters, a footy, snacks, jackets and our water bottles.

  1. Hike the beautiful Grampians National Park. Our favourite hikes are Venus Baths and Silverband falls. They are both easy walks – even with toddlers and grandparents. Our kids love playing on the rocks and in the water.
  2.  Eat ice cream in Halls Gap. And then walk to the playground in the centre of town.
  3. Eat, drink and play at the Halls Gap Hotel. Playground, it’s all about the playground. The Halls Gap Hotel has an indoor AND outdoor playground for the kids. They also serve great pub grub and local wines.
  4. Relax at Pomonal Estate. With views of the Grampians plenty of of outdoor seating and games for the kids to play – this is a great spot to enjoy a glass of local beer or wine with local produce.
  5. Stretch your legs or use the facilities at Ararat’s Alexandra Gardens. The Gardens Cafe serves coffee, milkshakes, snacks or something more substantial. The walking track around the lake is great to scoot along, there’s a playground, plenty of wildlife to enjoy and in summer the 50m outdoor pool.
  6. Visit Victoria’s largest regional zoo Halls Gap Zoo.
  7. Discover an aboriginal rock art site. The Grampians is home to more than 80% of south-eastern Australia’s aboriginal rock art. Bunjil shelter is just off the main drag near Stawell. It’s easy to access from the car park (max 5 min walk) and is one of the most significant sites in the region.
  8. Drink in the view at Fallen Giants winery, just out of Halls Gap. Sit on the deck and enjoy the spectacular Grampians mountain range with a glass of wine and cheese platter while the kids enjoy the playground.
  9. Swim. There are several pools in the region. We visit the Ararat indoor pool weekly, and in the warmer months, we love Lake Fyans (you’ll need a drill to get your CoolCabana in the hard sand!) the Ararat or Halls Gap outdoor swimming pools.
  10. Stay in. Stay in the accommodation that you have booked. Enjoy the big open spaces and nature at its best. Nature is abundant. From echidna’s to emus, stumpy tail lizards and cockatoos, kangaroos and wallabies – you’ll see it all. Just make sure to visit one of the local wineries or our friend Simon at Grampians Wine Cellar in Halls Gap to stock up on local wine.
Toby enjoying the playground at the Halls Gap Hotel
Toby enjoying the playground at the Halls Gap Hotel

SubRosa stockists in the Grampians:

How to enjoy red wine in summer

Nancy

SubRosa wine at sunset

On hot days, we often reach for a cool drink, but you don’t have to wait for the leaves to change colour to enjoy a good red. Red wine can be a great match on a balmy summer night or for those countless BBQ’s with friends.

Here are our top tips for enjoying red wine in summer.

  1. Avoid big, bold wines that are high in alcohol. Heavily oaked wines with high tannin are not as enjoyable as lighter bodied wines in warm weather. Save the robust red for a rich, winter dish.
  2. Lightweight clothes work in warm weather, just like lighter bodied red wines. Our favourite red varieties to enjoy in warmer months include Nebbiolo, Grenache and cool-climate Shiraz. Rosé is also a hit (especially with Nancy). Made from red grapes in the style of a white wine, Rosé that is bright, flavourful and textured is delicious. Rosé is best enjoyed within two years of bottling.
  3. Chill it. Red wine should be served at 15 – 18C which is cooler than Australian-summer room temperature. Place your bottle of red wine in the fridge for about 15 – 20 minutes before serving. Before pouring, touch the side of the wine bottle. The wine should feel cool to the touch, but not cold. Rosé should be chilled and removed from the fridge 15 minutes before sharing.
  4. If your wine starts to warm-up as you drink it, pop it back in the fridge for five minutes, but don’t let it get too cold. Serving a red wine too cold masks aromas and flavours. Serving red wine too warm makes it unbalanced. The alcohol gets its party shoes on and leaps out of the glass.

So the secret sauce, wine selection and wine temperature. Cheers to more red wine on summer days!

Adam’s favourite summer red: Cool climate shiraz. Try our 2018 SubRosa Grampians Shiraz.

 

Why decant wine?

Nancy

Why decant wine?

You don’t need a fancy decanter to get the most out of a bottle of wine.

What does decanting do to wine? Let’s break it down.

Wine smell and taste can be improved from exposure to air, oxygen to be specific.

According to Adam, when you decant a wine you let it breathe. And in doing so, the aromas come out. It opens up. “You get more out of your wine,” says Adam. Try this with our 2016 SubRosa Malakoff Estate Pyrenees Shiraz.

Young wines with high tannin can benefit from decanting for as little as 30 minutes. Wines with a little bottle age not only open up from the air exposure, but by decanting you can limit the sediment making it to your glass.

A red wine stored in a cooler location can reach ideal drinkable temperature by decanting.

Decanters don’t need to be expensive crystal, the same effect on the wine can be achieved using a glass or ceramic jug (our favourite when travelling) or the winemaker’s go to – a flask!

“If you are buying wine of a high quality, there is a good chance your wine will benefit from decanting,” says Adam.

A little secret trick of the trade…decant the wine in a jug, and pour it back into the bottle to serve. Voilà.

Toast to the Host: simple dukkah recipe

Nancy

It’s holiday season. Time to visit friends, relax and celebrate.

I’m a big fan of dukkah. I always have it in the pantry. It’s a great for a grazing platter, with eggs on toast, salads or even a stir fry (I picked up that idea from my sister-in-law Brittny). It’s also very easy to make, and is a simple, but great gift.

Here’s a recipe I recently discovered.

simple dukkah recipe
📸 Sophie Hansen

Simple Dukkah Recipe
Prep: 5 minutes, Cook: 10 minutes

½ cup (75 g) Hazelnuts, toasted
½ cup (80 g) almonds toasted
1 tsp sea salt
⅓ cup (50 g) sesame seeds
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
2 Tbsp cumin seeds

Place the hazelnuts in a food processor or mortar and pestle with the salt.

Combine the sesame, coriander and cumin seeds in a frying pan and toast until fragrant and the sesame seeds are golden. Add to the nut mix and blitz or bash to combine into roughish crumbs. Once cool, store in a clean jar for up to a month. In Good Company by Sophie Hansen (p99)

Make sure to try it once you are done. Grab some fresh bread and olive oil, pour a glass of SubRosa wine and relax and enjoy! A simple dukkah recipe for you and those you love!

Have fun,

Nancy

ps. There are plenty of other spices or nuts you can use – so have fun with it.

pps. I always love to make my dukkah a little spicy with some white pepper or hot paprika.

Why wine temperature matters

Nancy

SubRosa Viognier ice bucket

All whites go in the fridge right? Well, not exactly.

Before you fill the bathtub with ice, or buy a second drinks fridge for your next party consider these wine temperature tips.

According to Adam, Viognier is like Chardonnay, but more exotic. Like Chardonnay, Viognier is best served at just below room temperature (11-13C). If it’s too cold, the texture, flavour, acid balance and aromas will be masked. If room temperature in your neck of the woods is more than 15C, pop your Viognier in the fridge to chill it slightly, but make sure to get it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you plan on serving it.

Like a good Brie or Camembert cheese, straight out of the fridge aromatic whites like Viognier are palatable, but not delicious. If you have patience and time to let it come to room temperature you’ll be rewarded with flavour and aroma.

Try it for yourself, pop a bottle of SubRosa Viognier in the fridge and pour a glass. Take a sip immediately after it comes out of the fridge and then try it again after 10-15 minutes, and again after about 30 minutes. What do you think?

2017-Settler-and-Sons_Rosé_Credit_@sophie_iam

Rosé on a sunny day? Yes please! Adam suggests serving Rosé chilled, but not straight out of the fridge. Give it at least 10-15 minutes to come closer to room temperature so you can enjoy its aroma, flavour and texture. It’s amazing the difference 10-15 minutes makes! Ideal serving temperature for Rosé is 10-12C.

Nebbiolo, like Pinot Noir, should be served at room temperature which is widely considered to be about 14-16C, while Shiraz and Cabernet thrive at a slightly warmer temperatures of 17-19C. On summer days when you are serving Shiraz, don’t let it get too hot or it will lose its complexity for which SubRosa is known.

Top wine temperature tips:

  1. Take your favourite white or Rosé out of the fridge at least 15 minutes before serving.
  2. Store your wine in a cool dark place, not on top of the fridge which is likely to be warmer than many other places in your home.
  3. Keep wine out of the sun when entertaining outside.

What are vegan-friendly wines?

Nancy

SubRosa produces vegan-friendly wine – but what does that mean?

Vegan or vegan-friendly wine is made without animal products.

You may wonder how or why animal products are used in the fermentation of grapes?

Winemakers can use a processing aid like bentonite (clay), egg whites, casein (a protein found in milk) or isinglass (a fish derived product), to remove tiny particles of sediment in a wine that cannot be removed by filtration. This process will give the wine a distinct clarity and is called fining.

Adam Louder, SubRosa winemaker, starts the winemaking process with some of the best quality grapes in the region. He nurses the grapes through fermentation with aim of producing the highest quality wines from the Grampians and Pyrenees.

Adam will only fine a wine if it will improve and enhance its quality. He uses bentonite (clay) to fine SubRosa’s Viognier and Rosé, if he didn’t the wine could lose its clarity, or look hazy in your glass!

Raise a glass of vegan-friendly SubRosa wine today – happy world vegan day!

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

Nancy
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

Nancy

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).

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Father's Day cook-up in the Grampians