The Hunter Valley’s Carillion Wines has released three new vintage wines: the 2021 Carillion ‘Origins’ Semillon, 2021 Carillion ‘Lovable Rogue’ Fiano and 2021 Carillion ‘Loveable Rogue’ Vermentino.

Established in the Hunter Valley in 2000 the Davis family’s Carillion Wines owns vineyards in the Hunter Valley, Orange, and Wrattonbully. Carillion’s Tallavera Grove vineyard was planted in the Hunter’s Mount View region in 1994 and is home to their cellar door.

The 2021 Carillion ‘Origins’ Semillon was made exclusively from a 28 hectare vineyard established in 1994 by the Davis family from cuttings taken from the famous Braemore vineyard.

“The Tallavera vineyard is almost 30 years old, and starting to hit its straps,” said Carillion winemaker Andrew Ling. “The vines are growing in the renowned limestone soils and producing fruit that proves the quality of the site. The 2021 vintage was a standout with welcome winter and autumn rain leading into a good growing season. There were some rain events that we worked around and, with good vineyard management, harvested pristine, ripe fruit.”

The winemaking for the 2021 Carillion ‘Origins’ Semillon was kept fairly simple.

“Once the fermentation was complete we left the wine on its primary lees, with gentle stirring on a weekly basis in order to build volume and texture,” Ling said. “We are aiming to produce a wine that has varietal white floral and citrus aromas with a streamlined palate of mouth-watering natural acidity; a wine that has excellent longevity, which is so characteristic of the region.”

The Carillion ‘Lovable Rogue’ range is a limited release stable of wines that highlight Italian varieties such as Verduzzo, Sagrantino, Aglianico, and the newly released Fiano and Vermentino.

The new Fiano was made as a slightly ‘off-dry’ style, with five grams per litre residual sugar.

“The grapes were handpicked and held at five degrees for a 12-hour cold soak in order to extract flavour,” Ling said. “The juice was then transferred to a porcelain egg for fermentation. “We then halted fermentation when the residual sugar and acid were in harmony, resulting in an aromatic wine, with quenching acidity; perfect with food.”

The 2021 Carillion ‘Lovable Rogue’ Vermentino was cold soaked on skins for 20 hours before being pressed straight into seasoned puncheons for fermentation. Once dry, the wine was matured on lees for four months, with weekly stirring to help build texture and complexity in the finished wine.

“We’re really enjoying working with these varieties and we’re gaining valuable experience and confidence in the vineyard and the winery with every vintage,” Ling concluded. “They are eminently suited with food, and that’s the style we are looking to produce; wines with texture and balanced natural acidity.”

• 2021 Carillion Origins Semillon (Hunter Valley, NSW)  $35
• 2021 Carillion ‘Loveable Rogue’ Fiano (Hunter Valley, NSW)  $30
• 2021 Carillion ‘Loveable Rogue’ Vermentino (Hunter Valley, NSW)  $30

Carillion wines are distributed nationally by Carillion Wines and are available online at carillionwines.com.au

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