summer in aus.
release 25. january 2024.
summer in aus.
release 25, january 2024.
Right now, as we suffer through snow, hail and frigid temperatures across the US, Australia and New Zealand are bathing in summer heat. Surfers are paddling out, avocados are growing, and grapes are ripening. They're in opposites land down under! I've always thought of wine as a way to travel in your glass, and this release does precisely that. These are wines picked to represent summer drinking – bright, sunny, lifted wines to bring you out of the winter doldrums, and take you to a beach in New South Wales, or a gorgeous hilltop overlooking the ocean in South Australia. That sunshine shines out of the glass just like it should, taking you to a warmer place. We also have the pleasure of welcoming Rebecca Rice from Arthur's in West Seattle as our recipe partner for this release. Rebecca has deep family roots in Australia and Arthur's is her creative outlet. They have faithfully reproduced Australian cafe culture here in Seattle, so they're also in the business of bringing a little bit of sunshine to people living in the rain. You can find the full recipe booklet HERE , or scroll down for the individual pairings.
Earthsong Dillon’s Point Sauvignon Blanc 2022
Color: straw yellow with green
Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
ABV: 12.5%
Region: Marlborough, New Zealand
Winemaker: Gilles Cook MW
Viniculture: certified sustainable farmed
Winemaking: stainless steel fermentation in tank, with a cold settling period of 11 months, after which a gentle fining with Bentonite clay is done.
Wine Quote: “Fresh lemon, lime and grapefruit peel”
Jackson’s Notes: Many of the wines in this release are made by Masters of Wine (MW) or Master Sommeliers (MS). It is a demonstration of how incredible a concentration of talent exists in Australia and New Zealand in the winemaking world. There’s a tremendous amount of passion and expertise here.
This wine in particular is fun, because it’s made by the winemaker of another wine in this box. Earthsong is a project brought to us by the great minds at Thistledown, which include two MWs, Giles Cook and Fergal Tynan. An MW working at a winery doesn’t automatically make a winery good, but it generally means that it’s helmed by someone passionate enough to devote their life to the process.
Earthsong is a relatively new project for Thistledown–they were so captivated by the fruit coming off of this area (Dillon’s Point) that they decided to create a new label just to showcase it.
This caught our attention because it didn’t taste like “Typical New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc,” which tends to fit within a very narrow flavor profile: it’s very tangy and zesty, with lots of tropical, citrus and grapefruit notes, and doesn’t beg a lot from the drinker. It’s good, yes, and often one of the safest bets for a classic and delicious wine from a grocery store. These wines are typically made with a strain of commercial yeast that emphasizes those tropical flavors. But as a category, it tends to be very homogenous. I could put ten classic examples on a table, and after tasting the first 3-4, you’d be hard pressed to tell them all apart. There’s nothing inherently wrong with delicious wine, but if ten of them taste the same, the winemaking might be a touch formulaic. Enter this wine, which goes in a stylistically different direction but is every bit as delicious.
Earthsong isn’t far off the mark, but it has a nice mineral note, and the fruit here is less of the big tropical style, and more of the fresh citrus fruit profile that we know and love from classic Sauvignon Blancs like Sancerre. Fresh lemon, lime and grapefruit peel greet the nose, with a slight current of baked pineapple. Cut grass and green papaya with fresh apple blossom round out the palate. Serve with salads and light seafood dishes.
We are honored to partner with Rebecca on this release. She is doing incredible things for the hospitality industry in Seattle. Invite some friends over, get in the kitchen, and give these pairings a try! Make sure to check out Arthur's next time you're in West Seattle. Be sure to click the underlined recipes for step by step instructions.
Food Pairing: Arthur’s Drunken Mussels
Music: “On Your Side'” by Shapeshifter
Music Pairing: Just pure energy and light!
Zephyr Wines Agent 2022
Color: pale apricot.
Grapes: field blend of 50% Sauvignon Blanc, 30% Pinot Gris, 20% Riesling
ABV: 11.5%
Region: Marlborough, New Zealand
Winemaker: Ben Glover
Viniculture: Certified Organic farming of two vineyards, Brawn and Alice Mills
Winemaking: Hand harvested and whole bunch fermented as one and left to its own devices and in peace for 90 days until bottling with no additions apart from a touch of sulphur dioxide – 100 % orange.
Jackson’s Notes:
I am always wary of putting orange or skin-contact wines in these boxes. It’s not because they’re not good. When we put one in, we put in the very best, and focus on wines that we all believe in and enjoy! But orange wine can be a bit of an acquired taste–it’s more tannic than a white, lighter than a red, and has a flavor profile all its own. With these wines I usually recommend food, because of this slight bitter, tannic quality.
That being said, this Zephyr Wines “Agent” Orange wine is one of the more engaging and interesting oranges we’ve tried in the last several months. It’s aromatically lifted and very silky in texture on the palate, and doesn’t come across particularly bitter or tannic like some orange wines tend to do.
This is made by the Glover family, who organically farms a small estate in the northern Martinborough area of New Zealand’s south island. It used to be a farm and cow pasture, but as the wine industry blossomed in the late 1980s, the Glovers started thinking about planting grapes. This winery is the result of almost two decades of farming! Before they ever bottled anything themselves, they spent those years learning how to grow grapes sustainably. Ben Glover, second-generation winegrower, is in charge at Zephyr and producing some profoundly interesting wines from the family vineyards. They make a lot of classic varieties, but Agent definitely flies under their experimental category.
The Zephyr “Agent” Orange wine jumps out of the glass with notes of apricot peel, dried orange and salted lemon peel. Chamomile, dry herbs and white pepper complete the picture. This wine starts on the palate with lovely fruit and texture yet it still hits astoundingly dry. Dried herbs and flowers linger on the finish.
Food Pairing: Smoked Trout
Music: “Madly” by HIGH HØØPS
Description: just slick, polished pop that feels spot on for a wine with this kind of attitude - just discovered this New Zealand artist while researching music for this box, and I’m a fan now!
Das Juice Adelaide Hills White Blend 2022
Color: bright straw yellow
Grape Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon field blend
ABV: 12.6%
Region: Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Winemaker: James Audas and Tom Sheer
Viniculture: Organically and sustainably farmed .
Winemaking: The fruit was de-stemmed then pressed to tank for a slow natural ferment and left on solids for 6 months to flesh it out. Finished with a small sulphur addition prior to bottling.
Wine Quote: “this wine just screams deliciousness from the start”.
Jackson’s Notes:
We tried every wine from this winery, and for whatever reason, this particular bottling was the one that stuck out to us the most. “White blends from Australia” is about the most unfashionable category I can think of–not because of quality, but because of consumer perception. For decades, Australia’s wine industry traded off of its Critter Wine, meaning things like Yellow Tail that sold for very cheap prices abroad. While those wines helped get Australian wine onto American tables, they certainly didn’t help it stay there. After a certain point, bulk wine made in factories with lots of manipulation is just going to be a commodity product, and nothing else.
For the last two decades, Australian wine has been finding its footing, by focusing on the things that made it good to begin with–a wealth of viticultural intrigue, and great international talent in the wineries. The process-driven style that made Australian wine popular has fallen by the wayside in many ways. Many makers are favoring transparent winemaking that honors the vineyard source and grape variety, stripping away the veneer of industrial process.
Das Juice is the brainchild of sommeliers James Audas and Tom Sheer of LoFi Wine Imports. Their whole import book is focused on transparent producers who intervene minimally in the winemaking process. They created Das Juice to source incredible juice from all over the country and highlight a less manipulated style of winemaking.
This Das Juice white blend comes from the Adelaide Hills, and deftly blends grapes that aren’t normally seen in the same cuvées. Limey, tart Riesling is wedded to bright, grassy Sauvignon Blanc, with a textural kick from a bit of Sémillon.
Starting with notes of fresh green apple and dried chamomile, this wine just screams deliciousness from the start. Fresh pineapple and nectarine come forth and mingle with underripe mango and limoncello. Brisk and clean on the palate, it’s a perfect pairing with salads or light appetizers of any kind.
Food Pairing: Pan Fried White Fish
Description: Yotam Ottolenghi is one of our favorite chefs and his dishes provide tons of inspiration on Arthur’s menu. That said, this dish, featured in the film Bridget Jones’s Diary, is one that can’t be beat as it stands. Serve with a chicory-based salad or mash alongside. We love celeriac root with some cream and herbs here.
Music: “Dance of the Lizard People” by Love Deluxe
Description: the designer of this bottle packaging, Olivia Louella, also directed a music video for Love Deluxe to go along with this song. Pretty snazzy and groovy.
Unico Zelo “Halcyon Days” 2021
Color: pale purple w/fuschia hints
Grapes: 100% Nero d’Avola
ABV: 13.5%
Region: Riverland, South Australia
Winemaker: Brendan & Laura Carter
Viniculture: Sustainably Certified “B-Corp. This vineyard is sustainably and organically farmed wtih no chemical inputs and reduced water usage
Winemaking: 100% destemmed, fermented with wild yeasts on skins for 7 days, with twice daily pumpovers, placed into 2nd pass oak barrels for 9 months.
Wine Quote: “Halcyon Days is dark, spicy wine Flavor-aid”.
Jackson’s Notes:
We’re huge fans of Unico Zelo. This is in fact the second time we’ve featured one of their wines in a Crunchy Red Fruit release. Brendan and Laura Carter have been doing great work at Unico Zelo for years now, and have splintered off this winery to include many other brands–a distillery, a tasting room, a bar. They’re demonstrating that following a dream is worth it.
Unico Zelo prides itself of environmental follow-through. I was so impressed to page through their website and find a complete spreadsheet with several dozen entries about the ways they’ve pursued sustainability in every facet of their business, from packaging to shipping to energy consumption to waste reduction. They’re truly practicing what they preach and there’s nothing contrived or superficial about it.
The last wine we used from Unico Zelo also happened to be a Nero d’Avola. It follows that this grape just does amazingly well in Australia’s dry, hot climate (especially the continental Riverland area), like in its native Sicily which is not far from the coast of Africa and the Sahara. That prolonged heat and intensity do well for certain grapes like Nero, and these grapes even retain balanced acidity in the face of overwhelming heat.
Halcyon Days is dark, spicy wine Flavor-aid. It leads with rich ripe black fruit–blackberry, Bing cherry, and baked plum. Toasted rose petals and allspice dram. Weirdly, there’s no drop-off in flavor intensity on the palate. It just keeps giving with ripe fruit and spicy vinosity.
Food Pairing: Berbere Spice
Description: Roast up some root vegetable as a main or side dish along with this berbere spice made from scratch. We love yams or seasonally available kabocha squash as our star roasted veg.
Music: “Moths” by Ry X
Description: very moody and effortless and silky. Like the wine.
Wildman Wines Piggy Pop Pét-Nat 2022
Color: bright reddish-pink
Grapes: 29% Mataro, 24% Lagrein, 21% Arneis, 19% Nero d’Avola, 7% Zibbibo
ABV: 13%
Region: South Australia - sourced from vineyards in McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills and Riverland
Winemaker: Tim Wildman MW
Viniculture: sustainably farmed
Winemaking: Native – stainless steel (Mataro & Nero d'Avola 25% whole-cluster, the rest de-stemmed and whole-berry), with about 8 hours of total skin contact
Jackson’s Notes:
Crunchy Red Fruit has carried this wine for a long time–what’s not to like about a pink piggy wine with serious attitude and an immediately refreshing approach?
This is the brainchild of Tim Wildman, a British Master of Wine who’s been working in Australia for some time now. Tim wanted to create something that was scrumptious and accessible. And WOW he succeeded quite handily.
Pétillant Naturel, or Pét-Nat has had quite a resurgence in recent years, and even places that were once known for big, polished commercial styles of wine are having great success making this fresh and complex style of sparkling natural wine. Australia has been the source of several incredible surprises for us in the natural wine world, and a couple of them have been pét-nats!
Piggy Pop encapsulates what Pét-Nat is all about: accessibility, freshness and a devil-may-care attitude. This is not a wine to lay down and pull out at the country club in twenty years. It’s meant to drink now and to drink heartily.
Piggy Pop is like cherry Pop Rocks-refreshing and lively. That is all. There’s no more words that need to be spoken about a wine this approachable.
Food Pairing: Kettle Chips
Description: We understand that frying up chips can be intimidating, but hopefully this brings a simple approach to the process! If desired, use air-popped white popcorn instead and drizzle with olive oil and seasoning mix. Arthur’s has everything seasoning made in house and can be purchased on your next visit!
Music: “Howlin’ at the New Moon” by Alice Ivy feat. Mayer Hawthorne
Description: I’m a longtime Mayer Hawthorne fan and this one is a super fun collab with Australian indie artist Alice Ivy. This really feels like the right thing to listen to while drinking pét-nat!
Thistledown The Vagabond Grenache 2022
Color: dark fuschia w/purple.
Grapes: 100% Grenache
ABV: 14.5%
Region: Blewett Springs, McLaren Vale, South Australia
Winemaker: Giles Cook MW
Viniculture: certified sustainable farming
Winemaking: Layers of destemmed and whole cluster grenache, fermented partially in large neutral oak and partially in concrete eggs, for about 35% total whole cluster inclusion.
Wine Quote: “It sings in the glass with loud, buoyant, bombastic fruit.”
Jackson’s Notes: We were utterly blown away by this wine when we tasted it in the shop. Here was an expression of the Grenache grape that felt as honest and as interesting as anything we’ve tasted this year. This is made by the excellent folks at Thistledown, a winemaking team led by Giles Cook, a Master of Wine who’s at the helm of several projects in Australia and New Zealand. Thistledown (and Giles) are also the team behind the Earthsong Sauvignon Blanc in this box!
Some of the world’s oldest vines are located in Australia’s McLaren vale region. This is where the famous Yangarra’s High Sands vineyard lies, and many others. Some of the vines in this part of Australia were planted in the 1800s, making them well over 100 years old. The vineyards that this wine comes from are in a district called Blewitt Springs, where some of the best sites are located in McLaren Vale.
Thistledown’s The Vagabond Grenache is produced by layering destemmed and whole cluster grenache together in the fermenters–both neutral oak and concrete. This produces a combination of textures that come together seamlessly in the final wine. It’s firm, but juicy and yielding.
A good Grenache ought to have several different things going for it, flavor-wise: ripe red fruit notes, some herbal qualities, and some peppery flavors. This one has all three, but the quality and purity of the fruit is where it really shines. It’s fresh strawberry, cherry jam and blood orange. It’s lifted herbal notes and white pepper. Dried lavender and a slight, sweet smokiness. When all these things come together in one wine, it’s transcendent.
Thistledown’s Vagabond Grenache is, simply put, a great Grenache. It sings in the glass with loud, buoyant, bombastic fruit. It’s a perfect fireside wine, but also a great wine for pairing with white meat dishes like roast chicken, or pork tenderloin.
Food Pairing: Sous vide pork with caramelized fig & carrot mash
Music: “Home Soon” by Dope Lemon
Description: I love Dope Lemon, been following Angus Stone’s music for a long time. I hadn’t heard this groove before and was super into it. Feels like something I’d hear on Bondi Beach while eating an avocado smash.