As soon as the grapes arrive into the winery the winemaking options are infinite.
TWO INGREDIENTS, FIVE WINES
As soon as the grapes arrive into the winery the winemaking options are infinite. Priorities revolve around respect for grape and the land on which it’s grown. But even with minimal- intervention in mind, there are still countless creative choices to make; press type, pressure, temperature, crushed, whole berries, whole bunches, time on skins, vessel type, time in the vessel, sulphur, no sulphur, malolactic fermentation, filtration, stabilisation - the list goes on. Nothing is right, nor wrong; they are all but choices that determine the final style of wine. The style of wine we hope the person drinking will enjoy, appreciate and savour. For us at L.A.S. Vino, the driver isn’t the wine itself, but the creative process that winemaking entails. It’s starting with a raw ingredient, an item as elemental and simple as a grape and creating something beautiful and complex out of it. At the end of this journey, the final creative act left for the winemaker is blending. This box contains five wines made from two grape varieties; Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Four of these wines are blended to make the final wine: the 2017 L.A.S. Vino Albino PNO.
Try the five wines individually, noting the resulting differences of the varied techniques used and creative decisions made in each bottle. But if you want to join us on the creative process of these wines, we say: invite your friends, crack open all five wines, and get blending. Combine the wines in different proportions and marvel at the creations that emerge; the creation’s that you have brought forth.
Winemaking like life is a consequence of chance and choice. The terroir of site combined with a large amount of chance dictates the quality of grapes we receive. We are then left with the choices, which will go on to determine the future fate of the wine. It’s hard to change the events that occur in life but we are always left with choices on how we wish to act. Make wise choices, experiment, fail, learn, grow and create.
Then savour.
WINEMAKING NOTES
2017 L.A.S. Vino Chardonnay (From Barrel) Willyabrup Chardonnay, hand picked, chilled, whole bunch pressed, naturally fermented in old oak and left for 12 months where it went through malolactic fermentation. The wine was hand bottled un-fined and unfiltered.
2017 L.A.S. Vino Pinot Noir (From Barrel) Willyabrup Pinot Noir, hand picked, chilled, whole bunch pressed, naturally fermented in old oak and left for 12 months where it went through malolactic fermentation. The wine was hand bottled un-fined and unfiltered.
2017 L.A.S. Vino Chardonnay on Pinot Noir Skins (From Barrel) Willyabrup Chardonnay, hand picked, chilled, de-stemmed to open fermenter and left on skins at 5 degrees for 24 hours. All of the juice was taken out of the fermenter with the Chardonnay skins remaining. This Chardonnay juice was then put onto the skins of Pinot Noir for a further 24 hours prior to being transferred to barrique for fermentation where it remained for a year. The wine was hand bottled un-fined and unfiltered.
2017 L.A.S. Vino Pinot Noir on Chardonnay Skins (From Barrel) Willyabrup Pinot Noir, hand picked, chilled, de-stemmed to open fermenter and left on skins at 5 degrees for 24 hours. After the colour was partially extracted from the skins, we transferred the juice onto the skins of Chardonnay and left it to ferment for 10 days prior to going to oak for a year. We were interested in discovering whether wine would have the structure of a red wine by extracting the colour from the pinot noir but also the tannin from the skins of the Chardonnay. The wine was hand bottled un-fined and unfiltered.
2017 L.A.S. Vino Albino PNO A combination of the wines listed above. 78% Pinot Noir, 10% Pinot Noir on Chardonnay skins, 9% Chardonnay and 3% Chardonnay on Pinot Noir Skins. The aim is to create strawberries and cream in a glass.
2018 L.A.S. Vino Pet Nat Willyabrup Pinot Noir hand picked, whole bunch pressed and fermented in a clay amphora and topped with a little bit of biodynamic Chenin Blanc prior to bottling. Celebrate
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