Rave reviews from Huon Hooke for our new release wines

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.

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

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 close is harvest 2023?

 

 

Adam Louder, winemaker for SubRosa wines, checking grapes on the vine during harvest

Each year in late summer/early autumn (February/March) grapes ripen and are ready for harvest. Winemakers refer to this time as “vintage” as it is at this time grapes enter the winery and begin their journey to become wine. Harvest 2023 in the Grampians is almost here!

2023 is Adam Louder’s 39th vintage. An amazing achievement for the 42 year old.

How is vintage 2023 shaping up?

Each vintage is different. The biggest influence is the grape growing conditions, which are determined by the weather.

The growing conditions for vintage 2023 included lots of spring rain thanks to La Niña. This rain led to humid conditions creating disease pressure in early summer. Adam spent a lot of time in the vineyard looking for disease which luckily didn’t eventuate! A warm, dry summer has reduced the disease pressure and the focus now is on grape ripening and keeping wildlife (mostly birds) away from the vines.

How does Adam approach each vintage?

We should put a pedometer on Adam in late summer as he walks the vines every day inspecting grapes and vine health. As the grapes ripen, he starts tasting. He tastes grapes on his walks in the vineyard for more than two months. This process can start as early as February and continue to April/May – it all depends on mother nature. In the peak of vintage, Adam will taste more than 100 grapes a day. He squeezes the grape and looks at the grape skin, observes its texture and how juicy it is. He tastes the grape for flavour, sweetness and complexity. Then he spits the grape out. Guess who doesn’t eat table grapes at home?

 

Adam Louder, winemaker of SubRosa is checking the grapes sugar levels by squeezing it

 

What’s more important in making a high quality wine – art or science?

Winemaking is a combination of art and science. The art part is all experience. From his 38 previous harvests, Adam has developed a very refined palate. Using his intuition he is guided by taste as the primary marker. But he’s not against the use of science, in a supporting way. A refractometer is a small, handheld tool used by Adam that uses a prism to measure baumé. Baumé is a measurement of dissolved soluble solids in grape juice and indicates the grapes’ sugar level and ripeness. Sugar converts to alcohol in winemaking, so this is an indicator of the potential alcohol in the wine.

Adam will start tasting grapes in early March this year. Once he is happy with the grape texture and flavour he will begin picking and the winemaking process begins.

It’s is an exciting time. Every vintage is different. You never know what challenges you’ll be thrown.

Every winemaker likes to talk up the vintage, but what we do know for harvest 2023 in the Grampians is that the temperatures have been milder which means slower ripening. As they ripen slowly, grapes develop a more complex taste. Complexity means a wine is multi-faceted. Many types of aromas, flavours, and layers of depth on the palate. In other words, delicious.

In the words of Adam,

“We’re still a few weeks away from picking grapes. Not long now and we’ll get the first taste of what vintage 23 will deliver.”

SubRosa Christmas dozen special

Share SubRosa wine this holiday season with our 12 bottles of SubRosa Christmas special!

The special dozen includes three new releases and our award-winning 2016 SubRosa Grampians Shiraz (95 points and special value – James Halliday).

Valued at $380, you pay $300.

2 x 2019 SubRosa Grampians Sangiovese Rosé (new release)
2 x 2018 SubRosa Grampians Viognier (new release)
2 x 2017 SubRosa Pyrenees Nebbiolo (new release)
6 x 2016 SubRosa Grampians Shiraz (96 points James Halliday)

Use coupon code “Christmas2019” for free shipping.

Buy now