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.

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.”

How to enjoy red wine in summer

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?

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.

Why wine temperature matters

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.

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

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

Shiraz Christmas 4-pack special – local delivery only

Is there someone special in your life that LOVES shiraz? Look no further for a Christmas gift that will make them giddy with glee.

Local delivery ONLY. $150 value for $120 with free local delivery by Nancy or Adam in eco-friendly gift box.

Delivery 20 December: Dunkeld, Willaura

Delivery by 23 December: Ararat, Avoca, Ballarat, Halls Gap, Horsham, Moyston, Pomonal, Stawell. If you suburb is not listed, but within an hour of Ararat – contact us.

Available for purchase until Sunday 22 December, 2019. Limited availability.

Buy now.

2020 Halliday Wine Companion scores released!

The eagerly awaited James Halliday Wine Companion 2020 scores are out and we’re pretty happy.

2017 SubRosa Grampians Viognier – 95 points

Hand-picked bunches held in the press for 2 hours for phenolic extraction, cool, wild ferment in barrel, 9 months on gross lees with stirring, 80 dozen made. Great label design. A remarkable achievement: full flavour on a medium to full-bodied palate without any oily phenolics. Buy here

2016 SubRosa Nebbiolo – 94 points

Light, clear colour; perfumed violets and spices, all is calm on the tannin front, a lingering assembly of scents, silky texture. Buy here

2016 SubRosa Grampians Pyrenees Shiraz Viognier – 95 points

A 70/30% regional blend matured for 10 months in French oak, 240 dozen made. The Grampians gives the wine more stiffening – not of tannins or extract, but of fruit flavour, black cherry and blackberry acting in concert. The label design and printing is worth extra points, as is the splash of viognier. Terrific value. Buy here

2016 SubRosa Malakoff Estate Shiraz – 95 points

Hand-picked, matured for 16 months in French oak, only 80 dozen made. The colour is much lighter than expected, and it’s on the lighter side of medium-bodied – but it’s well balanced, expressing its variety and region, its fruit spicy and juicy. And yes, it’s a great drink. Buy here

These excellent scores mean we retain our five star rating.

It’s not easy making amazing wine in small batches. Well done Adam.

Mike Bennie – The Winefront, scores SubRosa new release reds 93-95 points

 

Adam Louder (L) and Mike Bennie
Adam Louder (L) and Mike Bennie

Mike Bennie’s one of a kind. Wine writer, critic, host, presenter, judge and entrepreneur, he’s an encyclopedia of wine knowledge. If you get the chance, go to an event hosted by Mike, you’re guaranteed to have a fabulous time and walk away a little more knowledgeable about wine and many other things!

We love showing our wines to Mike. He’s a straight shooter and Adam responds candidly to his direct questions. Mike has a way to capture and share Adam’s winemaking thoughts, ambitions and processes in his reviews.

Adam showed Mike our wines on a recent trip to Sydney, here are a few review highlights.

2016 SubRosa Pyrenees Nebbiolo – 94 points

“…Style-wise it reminds me a bit of Olek Bondonio’s wines of Barbaresco.

It’s a vibrant, pure-feeling expression, loaded with perfume, lashed with savoury, iron-filing and graphite-tannins, bright in fruit flavour, dusted with attractive spice. There’s also a distinct vibrancy here, a cheery, cherry-kissed feel that’s easy for earlier access, despite there being cool, amaro-like acidity and a sheath of building tannin. It drives assertively then lingers with sappy fruit and minerally feel. It’s such a pleasure. It’s great.”

2016 SubRosa Grampians Pyrenees Shiraz – 93 points

“Beefy kind of wine but still holds a dedicated freshness and vitality, despite the rich, darker fruits, sense of earthiness, strong lick of dark choc-liquorice. The glossy texture is lovely, a light burr of tannins adds more grunt. It’s not a huge wine, per se, but it is memorable in the way bolder flavour can stain the palate and mind. It’s done well.”

2016 SubRosa Malakoff Estate Pyrenees Shiraz – 95 points

“… if you haven’t cottoned onto SubRosa, you should. You’ll be thanking yourself down the trail when these start commanding higher prices and generally being difficult to find. No doubt.

Svelte, seamless, succulent wine. Dark cherry, sarsaparilla, lavish spice scents, with all this doubling back into the palate. It slips softly over the palate leaving a slick of that spice and blackcurrant fruit character, with tannins just gently holding shape. If you like ‘syrah’, let’s say, with some concentration, this is excellent.”

12 days of Christmas

Christmas is a time for sharing food, wine and plenty of laughs with family and friends.

Whether you are at the beach or in the bush this Christmas we hope you enjoy this special time.

SubRosa 12 days of Christmas

To celebrate Christmas, we are sharing our SubRosa Summer Wine Club dozen with you at our Wine Club price until Dec 12 including free shipping.

Our 12 days of Christmas dozen includes limited edition Rosé (we only made 40 cases!!), Viognier, Nebbiolo and Shiraz.

Valued at $390, you pay $300.

Order here.

Thanks for the write-up The Weekly Times!

Benchmark of success: Grampians couple Nancy Panter and Adam Louder, with son Toby, say their listing in the latest Halliday guide is the reward for years of hard work. Picture: Yuri KouzminBenchmark of success: Grampians couple Nancy Panter and Adam Louder, with son Toby, say their listing in the latest Halliday guide is the reward for years of hard work. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

SubRosa wine listed on James Halliday’s wine guide

IAN GILBERT, The Weekly Times
August 8, 2018 12:00am

FOR winemakers, this time of year brings a mixture of trepidation and excitement.

It’s got little to do with the weather; bud burst is still a few weeks away.

No, the midwinter jitters are brought on by the release of the annual Halliday Wine Companion — the holy grail of wine reviews.

An entry in this wine-lovers’ bible can elevate a small independent winery on to a bigger stage, or a decent score out of 100 from author James Halliday can steer an already-established label towards greater things.

For Grampians couple Nancy Panter and Adam Louder, seeing their SubRosa brand listed in the new edition of Halliday, released last week, is the reward for the hard work involved in running a family wine business.

“It’s a benchmark, and it’s the most respected benchmark in Australia,” says Nancy.

“You can use that review as a talking point with wine shops, restaurants and consumers.”

Nancy and Adam’s story starts in the US — fittingly, as Adam was a “flying winemaker” for several years.

At 37, he has completed 32 harvests in some of the world’s finest wine-producing regions, including Margaret River, Bordeaux and the Napa Valley — plus, of course, the Grampians.

He was making wine in the Napa and Nancy was working in global brand and marketing PR for Visa on projects such as the Olympics when they met in 2011.

After they returned to Australia, SubRosa started to take shape.

The Grampians — specifically Eversley, east of Ararat — is now home for the couple and their son Toby, 2.

For Adam, making his own wine in the region is a real homecoming; he cut his teeth under visionary Australian winemaker the late Trevor Mast at Mount Langi Ghiran in 1998.

Adam’s attachment to the winery has turned full-circle with his recent appointment as head winemaker at Mount Langi Ghiran — the “day job” that underwrites his own venture.

As for their own label, Nancy says: “Adam has worked for 20 years making wine for other people and he wanted to use the experience he has and make wine like he wanted to make wine.

“We only make a small amount — we make as much as we can with the funds we have available.”

James Halliday calls SubRosa “one of the best new wineries in the 2019 Companion”, enthusing about the Pyrenees shiraz, which warrants 96 points out of 100, with 95 apiece for the Grampians shiraz and Pyrenees nebbiolo.

(Incidentally, the winery’s name comes from the Latin phrase sub rosa, which means “under the rose” and denotes a custom of secrecy or confidentiality.)

While consumers see only the glamorous end of the business — a beautiful glass of wine and an evocative review — it belies the hard slog required to promote small wine labels such as SubRosa.

“You talk to anyone who works in wine marketing and they’ll say it’s easy to make the wine but hard to sell it,” Nancy says.

It’s hard to overstate, therefore, what a glowing review in Halliday’s guide can mean for a smaller winery without the big marketing dollars to plug its wares.

In 2015, Yarra Valley winery Serrat scooped the Wine of the Year accolade for its shiraz-viognier, a bottle costing about $40 that outpointed the likes of Penfolds Grange (costing in the region of $750).

Serrat sold out of stock the morning the book was released — 4000 email orders were received by noon — and even then buyers were limited to six bottles a person.

A bottle reputedly sold at a charity auction shortly afterwards for $2000; while that was the exception, bottles were selling through wine merchants for a not-inconsiderable $400.

Now, even with that giddy pedigree, Serrat’s wines have risen by barely a tenth in price, proving that James Halliday has an eye for the good guy as well as the good wine.

If the latest edition has anything like the same effect for SubRosa, it will benefit not just their business but Grampians wine tourism as a whole, suggests Nancy.

“Australia produces extraordinary wine and the more that Australia can embrace supporting the local winemaking industry, the more that wineries will be more profitable and be able to make better wine tourism experiences — there’s a flow-on effect,” she says.

For Nancy Panter and Adam Louder, it seems, everything’s coming up roses.

SubRosa – named one of the 10 best new wineries in Australia

Halliday Wine Companion 2019 front coverThe annual Halliday Wine Companion is out! And the team at SubRosa is excited to be recognised by James Halliday in his list of “Ten of the best new wineries”.

Excerpt from: Halliday Wine Companion 2019, 10 of the best new wineries

“Each of these wineries achieved a five-star rating for its first appearance in the Halliday Wine Companion guide – no small feat.”

SubRosa – When Adam Louder and partner Nancy Panter were trying to come up with a name for their winery-to-be, a dictionary fell open at the page reading, ‘happening or done in secret – origin Latin “under the rose” (the rose an emblem of secrecy)’. Cryptic crossword fare, and more wines like those of their first release will steal the limelight.”