2022 Heathcote Touriga Nacional Rosé

The 2021-2022 growing season in Heathcote was heavily affected by La Nina weather conditions. We’ve been wanting to source Touriga for years, but there is not very much left in Victoria. Because of this, finding a little Touriga with our grower, Steve, in his vineyard at Willoughby Bridge was a real treat.

We have big plans for Touriga in the future, but the 2022 growing season wasn’t the year for them sadly! The cool and wet ripening period however was fantastic for rosé. So, in listening to the fruit, that is what we made.

We firmly believe in the future of Portuguese varieties in Central victoria and are championing several more plantings. Touriga is a fantastic grape that can be hugely misunderstood here in Australia. It has incredibly delicate floral characters such as violet and rose petal with a wet slate texture on the palate. This year we explored its ability to make delicate, oxidative style rosé and it has performed exceptionally.

The winemaking behind this wine was true to our house style. The fruit was crushed and allowed to sit in the press for a couple of hours to pick up additional aroma and colour before being pressed. The touriga was then all barrel fermented in old French barriques.

After primary fermentation, the barrels were topped and left to complete malolactic fermentation. After this, the wines remained on light lees untopped until bottling.