The Birds And The Bees Organic Shiraz

[Jasmine Lemaitre]

Richlyscented and flavoured with bright red and dark berry fruits with milk chocolate and a mix of brown spices. The palate is medium to full in weight with bright fruit flavours and a soft, plush mouth-feel. Soft integrated tannins and light fresh acidity both driving a long and generous finish.

A La Nina season brought much welcomed rain over the winter months and continued in providing a mild spring and summer. The cooler than average weather during harvest resulted in a longer ripening period which facilitated fragrant and elegant fruits in red wines and a seamless acid and tannin balance.

Picked in the cool of the morning and transported quickly to the winery before being 100% de-stemmed prior to fermentation in a mix of open and closed tanks. The wine was primarily vinified without the influence of oak for maximum fruit expression with most spending time on lees and regular cap management for colour and shape before blending with a smaller parcel matured in second-use French oak.

Just as nature intended, The Birds & Bees range of wines are hand-crafted from drygrown vineyards in pristine wine making country of South Australia. The vineyards are naturally grown without the use of herbicides or pesticides and are a thriving place for birds, bees and many more brilliant little critters and creatures. To really showcase the fruit from our wonderful vineyards the wines are low intervention, use no new oak and are finished with minimal fining and filtration so they really sing form the glass. Thoughtfully grown by fourth generation vignerons, the Gregoriou family.

"Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees" Joni Mitchell sang way back in 1970. She was referencing the destruction of the environment even then. "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."

It's taken a while for Australia to get with the organic program, but increasing numbers of vineyards and wineries are going organic and biodynamic. Certification guarantees risky chemicals haven't been used on the vines or in the winery.

Health is a powerful motivator, and while it's difficult to get numbers on these things, we see with our eyes and ears that more and more people are thinking about what goes into their food, and drink.

Gemtree wines are produced by viticulturist Melissa Buttery and her husband/winemaker Mike Brown. They are certified organic and biodynamic by ACO. The colour is a deep, vibrant red-purple, the rich aroma recalling ripe plums and fruitcake while the palate is medium to full-bodied and soft, fleshy and well-balanced. It's been smartly tailored for early drinking, although it will also take some age. Good value (14 per cent alcohol, screw-cap).

Savaterre owner/winemaker Keppel Smith says Savaterre is "organic with some biodynamic practices", but not certified. This glorious chardonnay has a bright, light to mid-yellow colour, with a complex, nutty, toasty, gently smoky bouquet that leads into a richly layered, full-bodied palate that tracks the bouquet closely. Oak and lees characters play a leading role but aren't overdone. Delicious buttery richness on the palate, the fruit sweetness merging with savoury elements and leading into a tremendously long, satisfying finish (13.5 per cent alcohol, screw-cap).

The Lowe family's Tinja farm and vineyard have been certified organic with ACO for more than 20 years, adding biodynamic practices for the last 10 years. This powerful red wine has a bouquet displaying red and darker cherry fruits, a lick of raspberry, and some floral high-notes. The wine is elegant in the mouth, intense and refined, penetrating and long, with excellent balance. The fruit does the talking and it has a beguiling sweet-fruit core. A delicious wine with many years ahead of it (15.1 per cent alcohol, cork).

Over the past few years, bees have been getting quite a bit of attention, and rightfully so! These small winged fluffy creatures are extremely important to agriculture. Many people fall under the common misconception that bees pollinate flowers and then lose track of where they go from there. But bees affect many things. Think about it, just about every single person on the planet is affected by bees. Have you eaten blueberries before? Watermelon, tomatoes, nuts, apples, avocados? All of these, and many more, are pollinated by bees.

Vineyards are typically grown as a monoculture, meaning a single crop is planted on the same land season after season, which can lead to soil degradation and reduced biodiversity unless additional measures are taken. Because grapevines are perennial plants that can live for over 100 years, they pose a viable opportunity to create diverse ecosystems.

Bees help combat the monocultural nature of a vineyard by pollinating the plants and cover crops, such as mustard and clover, that grow around the grapevines. In turn, cover crops promote health soil by improving or maintaining soil organic matter and play a vital role in combating climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Wine is the product of a tightly integrated ecosystem with a complex and delicate balance. To create great wines, we have to maintain this balance by taking special care of the vines. More biodiversity means better conditions and a healthier ecosystem results in higher quality grapes.

Grgich Hills Estate has been in the business of sustainability and thinking green since 2000. Though our farming practices usually take center stage when it comes to talk about our environmentalism,...

Please see our Privacy Policy posted to read about your rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 and the Consumer Privacy Rights Act of 2020. You can also ask a Grgich Hills Estate associate for a copy of our Privacy Policy if you are at our winery.

The grapes had to be organically grown and the wine made without any additives of any kind. Today we still adhere to these principles growing and making our wines as naturally as possible: - hand-picked grapes, foot crushed, fermented by wild yeast, unfiltered, bottled by hand and NOTHING ADDED.

Growing right on the wild West Coast of New Zealand our vines exist in very demanding conditions: - tough ground and burning salt laden winds. This results in very low crops of smaller, full flavoured berries and we believe this, along with our strict viticultural regime, produces wines of depth and flavour.

During the growing season we spend many hours amongst the vines taking out laterals and excess or weak shoots and at veraison (when the grapes start to change colour) we remove many bunches and even reduce the size of some to ensure our crop levels are kept low.

Later, when we have observed the progress of ripening, we attach colour coded tags to various bunches. This is because all vines or even bunches on a vine often do not ripen at the same time and close to harvest it is almost impossible to visually assess which are more advanced than others. This time-consuming process enables us to pick over the vines many times selecting the bunches which are now fully ripe.

These are then sorted by hand removing berries that do not come up to the standards we require. This is particularly important as we need them to be unbroken and free of mould or rot to enable us to produce the wine without the use of sulphites.

The work on the vines can be repetitive at times but knowing we are not being exposed to toxic chemical sprays and being accompanied by the hum of bees, bird song and the croaking of frogs in the pond makes it a pleasure, not a chore.

Making of: All varieties were picked together and co-fermented. The fresh fruit was picked early in the morning and put into stainless tanks for carbonic maceration. Natural CO2 from an established vigorous fermentation was used to gas the tank. After three weeks the fruit was foot tread, pressed off, and sent to neutral French oak. Left on lees for 10 months. Racked once before bottling. No additions including no added sulfites.

Vinification: All varieties picked together and co-fermented. 1/3 whole cluster was incorporated in the fermentation with destemmed fruit on top. Slow pump overs once to twice a day, and the occasional gentle punch down. The wine was pressed at 7 brix to mitigate alcoholic extraction and to preserve freshness and vibrancy. Fermentation finished in neutral oak. Left sur lie for 10 months. Racked once before bottling. The wine was produced without any additions. Unfined, unfiltered, no sulfites.

Making of: The fruit was destemmed and left to rest on their skins overnight. This allows flavors and aromatic compounds to

leach from the grape skins, as well as contribute some texture. The juice was then fermented with native yeasts in stainless to preserve aromatics and freshness. In this vintage, 35% was aged in neutral oak to explore differences in elevage. Aged sur lies for 6 months before being racked once in preparation for bottling. No filtration, no ameliorations, and no sulfite additions at any point.

Personality: pale yellow color. Aromas of guava, lemon peel, white peach, fresh-cut hay, and yeast. A very slight effervescence from dissolved CO2 due to the stainless aging gives liveliness to the palate.

Making of: The fruit is destemmed and allowed to rest on their skins overnight. This allows flavors and aromatic compounds to

leach from the grape skins as well as contribute some texture. The fresh juice is then fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel to preserve aromatics and freshness. No filtration, no ameliorations, and no sulfite additions.

Personality: Zesty and refreshing aromatics of passionfruit, lime, and white flowers are balanced with a mineral austerity. Light and fresh, this wine does well at a garden party, or down at the beach.

Making of: with the conversion to Organics, 1/3 of the fruit had some small organic blemishes and was direct-pressed, 1/3 of the good fruit was destemmed, and the last 1/3 of perfect fruit was left whole-cluster. Attentive pump-overs were initially used to get a healthy native ferment, and gentle cap wettings were applied in the later stages of fermentation. Gently pressed and sent sur lie to 1 puncheon and 1 barrel. After 10 months, the wine was racked once and then bottled. Unfined, unfiltered, and no added SO2 at any point. Cellared for an additional 9 months in bottle before release in spring 2022.

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