SUMMER
2023
ISSUE N O.
26
PEPPER TREE WINES
2
Winery Review Vintage 2023 is now behind us, and the early results are looking very promising!
With Vintage 2023 wrapped up, our latest reds are laying away in barrel, slowly evolving as our winery team continue to check up on them. We’re seeing true promise from this year’s efforts – while crops were down, the fruit purity and expression from our 2023 parcels is shaping up to be quite noteworthy. During the vintage 'off-season', we’ve had time to enjoy our annual Q4 Winemaker’s Luncheon in our barrel hall. We had a fantastic time hosting our Q4 Members on the day and showing off some special wines. Back in the winery, our attention has turned to finalising and releasing some of our latest whites, with our 2023 Varietal Pinot Gris, 2023 ‘Stone Mountain’ Riesling and our famed ‘Alluvius’ Semillon now in bottle. We’re incredibly proud of these wines and can’t wait for you to enjoy them. As budburst has well and truly kicked off in the Hunter, we’re now preparing for Vintage 2024! Cheers,
Nick Kruger Winemaker
SUMMER 2023
3
Where has this year gone, it’s hard to believe we are nearly celebrating Christmas. We have had a great year in the Wine Club being very busy looking after all our wonderful members and enjoying the events throughout the year. One of our favourites are the Harvest Lunches as it’s always great seeing all the members having such a happy time, enjoying all the food from Muse restaurant matched perfectly with our wonderful wines and being entertained with great music from Nic Saxon. We have released the Event Calendar for next year so please make sure you write down the events you are interested in, so you don’t miss out when the tickets are released. Don’t forget to order your wines for Christmas early to beat the Christmas rush, and if you would like to send your family and friends some Pepper Tree Wines for Christmas let us know and we can pop a Christmas card in with a special note just from you!
XXX
from the Wine Club Crew: Shaz, Susie and Mark
SUSIE J
Our Favourite wines over Christmas will be:
MARK J
2023 Single Vineyard Orange 2022 Limited Release ‘Amarysso’ ‘Stone Mountain’ Riesling Sparkling – Double, double, Floating around in the summer toil and trouble, fires burn and sunshine sipping Riso in Paradiso! glasses bubble.
SHAZ J 2023 Limited Release Coonawarra Merlot Rosé Rosé all Day means it’s going to be a Good Day!
4
PEPPER TREE WINES
Summer Beach Favourites With summer unfurling before us, it’s an apt time to cast our eyes on the pink wine landscape. And when we say pink, the Pantone swatch book of Rosé veers from the pale and coppery to the distinctly ruddy, and from a range of varieties that could include… well, anything. As a category defined by its colour, Rosé, for us at least, is any wine that you can’t bring yourself to calling red and blushes too much to be classed as white. From the perfect accompaniment for sun-splashed languor to a versatile dinner-table foil, rosé is no one-trick pony. Dry Rosé is a great wine style – one that we put a lot of work into at Pepper Tree Wines. This Rosé continues a run of excellent vintages, combining great freshness and lightness in a wine that is still complex and satisfying. Nick is ambitious and acutely sensitive, securing the best parcels of fruit from our Coonawarra vineyards for our 2023 Limited Release Coonawarra Merlot Rosé. It’s a pleasure to present this dazzlingly vibrant, stylish, and engaging Rosé that is an absolute joy to drink!
Dry Rosé is a great wine style – one that we put a lot of work into at Pepper Tree Wines. It’s a pleasure to present this dazzlingly vibrant, stylish, and engaging Rosé that is an absolute joy to drink! dave hewit ptw national & global sales manager
Think Pink
SUMMER 2023
5
2023
Limited Release Coonawarra Merlot Rosé
NEW
R E L E A SE
TASTING NOTES | A refreshing crisp wine style made from Merlot grapes off our Coonawarra vineyard. Rich strawberry and cream with notes of guava are abundant on the palate with a lively sherbet like acid line and texture that completes the finish. A wine to be enjoyed chilled in the sunshine. VINTAGE | The 2023 Coonawarra growing season began with relatively warm conditions and low rainfall.This made for a positive transition following the cooler temperatures of Spring.The resulting bunch-set was positive, with healthy canopies and good crop development. As vintage progressed conditions began to cool again, which did indeed slow down the ripening process.This was in fact beneficial in allowing for gradual, consistent flavour development.While the eventual harvesting of fruit was slightly later than other recent vintages, adaptation and quick decision-making have rewarded us with wines of character and balance. WINEMAKING | This block was harvested and pressed off skins immediately on arrival to the winery. The resulting juice was cold settled clear before being inoculated with an aromatic yeast strain. Following ferment the wine spent two months on lees to build mid palate texture before being stabilised and prepared for bottling.
RRP
$ 30.00 •
CLU B MEMBER PR ICE
$25.50 •
Q4 MEMBER PR ICE
$22.50
PEPPER TREE WINES
6
Enjoy these Summer There’s little wonder why Riesling is one of the world’s most popular whites – its so delicious! RRP
$55.00 •
CLU B MEMBER PR ICE
$46.75 •
Q4 MEMBER PR ICE
$41.25
2023
Single Vineyard 'Stone Mountain' Orange Riesling TASTING NOTES | Our 2023 ‘Stone Mountain’ Riesling is fresh, crisp, full of citrus and green apple, and so delightfully drinkable. Enjoy a glass on its own or pair with your favourite dish – ‘Stone Mountain’ shines no matter what. If you’re the patient type, this wine will also reward cellaring, good luck waiting! WINEMAKING | The fruit was hand picked at first light, chilled and then whole bunch pressed and settled bright before being inoculated for ferment. The resulting wine was then settled, lightly fined and prepared for bottling.
SUMMER 2023
7
Vibrant Releases 2022
NEW R E L E A SE
RRP
$55.00 •
Single Vineyard 'Lamb Paddock' Orange Pinot Noir
CLU B MEMBER PR ICE
$46.75 •
Q4 MEMBER PR ICE
$41.25
Soft & elegant yet complex & vibrant: the perfect red for Summer dining! TASTING NOTES | The ‘Lamb Paddock’ block of our Orange vineyard has proven to produce Pinot Noirs of exceptional quality, with perfumed aromatics of dark cherry, violet and subtle herbal notes elegantly presented in glass. A layered palate of red berries, dark chocolate and complex spices is beautifully framed by fine tannins and generous mouthfeel. ‘Lamb Paddock’ is a Pinot Noir of elegant character and vibrancy. WINEMAKING | Delicately hand-picked on a cool morning and individually sorted. Each parcel was destemmed and fermented individually, with thirty-percent remaining as whole-bunch, and select portions undertaking wild ferment. Twice-daily pumpovers were carried out throughout fermentation. As each portion completed fermentation, the wine was pressed off into French oak puncheons. After barrel ageing, the blending selection process took place, with only the most outstanding barrels making it into this wine.
PEPPER TREE WINES
Meet our Staff
Su
Favourite Food | BBQ Chicken (No Skin) or a homemade natural broth ice cube in summer.
az
si
e
8
Sh
Favourite Toys | Teddy Bear/ Meerkat. Naughty Habit | Stealing socks and leaving on lawn/anywhere. Favourite Place | She loves the beach, or any swimming hole really!
Cleo
Best Friend | Stella & Zulu, our parents dogs.
Favourite Food | Just any food!
rk
Ma
Favourite Place | Anywhere there are people that will play with me.
Naughty Habit | Stealing the toilet roll if you leave the door open, digging holes in the back yard, and always stealing my left blue and white slide. Favourite Place | Going for walks anywhere, especially Petstock where the girls spoil him.
Best Friend | Bradie & Baz. Cleo loves playing with her cousins Tillie & Pep on the Farm. Also loves when her Dad comes home & takes her to the beach in Newcastle.
Favourite Food | Chicken and vegetables, Oliver’s Peanut Butter Biscuits, and paddle pops. Favourite Toys | He loves his Kong chew toy and his Red Chewy toy.
Favourite Toys | Squeaky chicken. Naughty Habit | Playing with live chickens, let’s just say it doesn’t end well!
Axel Evans
Best Friend | Me.
Yummy
Axel doesn’t know he is a 45kg Rottweiler and loves sitting on me and cuddling me, he loves Zooper Doopers on a hot day and he is a sooky la la.
ve
Favourite Food | Chicken, treats and the occasional Black Angus steak (medium-well) - I'm not joking!
Da
Favourite Toys | Any toy that doesn't belong to The Boss, Barrel bungs, begging for treats or anything edible. Naughty Habit | Thinking he's a rottweiler while forgetting he's trapped in a little dog's body! Favourite Place | Being at the winery, chasing Kangaroos ... just generally causing mischief and getting away with it!
Boston ( boss )
Best Friend | Best friend to David and the Pepper Tree Wine crew.
SUMMER 2023
EVIE: Favourite Food | Schmackos
ph
Pets!
9
St
e
Favourite Toys | A unicorn which she has had from a tiny puppy. She also loves balls, and playing fetch.
Best Friend | She loves her siblings, Evie and Harley.
ra
Evie is a 2yo Beaglier. She was bottle fed as a puppy as she was tiny and wouldn't have survived. Very affectionate with her family but also the biggest scaredy-cat of everything and everyone else.
GRACIE: Favourite Food | Vegemite on toast. Favourite Toys | Only interested in toys if there could be food hidden inside. Naughty Habit | She has a few – trying to steal her sister’s dinner, barking at every dog on the television, snoring really loudly and we have to carry her outside if the grass is wet. Favourite Place | In her bed under a blanket. Best Friend | Her sister Evie. Gracie is a 5yo Beaglier (Beagle x Cavalier). Even though she's a couch potato, she loves going for walks and her favourite thing (besides food) is going camping for the weekend, she gets so excited when she knows she's going in the car.
nd
Favourite Food | Salmon & tuna.
Sa
Favourite Toys | His dog plushie that he claimed as his own when he was first adopted. They go everywhere together (see picture...!)
Suki Favourite Food | Arnotts Scotch Finger Biscuits.
Naughty Habit | Pouncing on people’s feet. Favourite Place | Sunbaking in the window or curled up in bed. Best Friend | Nick and Boston!
Favourite Toys | Sticks of any size to chew. Favourite Place | My Bed. Best Friend | Me or Johno the Guinea Pig (well that’s one sided, Johno doesn’t even acknowledge that Suki exists). Loves water of any kind but especially the surf. Loves other people and dogs.
ck
Naughty Habit | Licks the chickens.
Ni
elle
Favourite Place | Wherever I am, she is always next to me. When I am working from home, she is in her bed next to my desk.
Evie & Gracie
ch
Naughty Habit | She tries to sneak into our bed during the night and has also recently started to steal the toilet paper rolls and spreads toilet paper from one room to the next (we now have to make sure we keep the door closed).
Mi
Chaser & Max Favourite Food | BOTH JUST LIVE FOR FOOD! Favourite Toys | They love playing together either chasing squeaking balls or tug of war. Naughty Habit | Destroying any toy that has a squeaker in it! Favourite Place | Wherever we are they have to be! Enjoy trips to the beach or any car ride.
Keith Kruger
Best Friend | Each other (they're father & son) & Todd and I!
10
PEPPER TREE WINES
What's on at the The Cellar Door has been busy as of late, as we now move into Spring and furthermore to Summer the Cellar will see an influx of those chasing our Whites!
We’ve recently moved onto new vintages of Semillon, Riesling, Chardonnay and Rosé all of which are perfect for the hotter weather and the beach holidays to follow it. A conspicuous favourite for the white lovers is by far the 2023 ‘Stone Mountain’ Riesling! For those that prefer a red, the new vintages of both the 2022 Limited Release Pinot Noir and our first ever Single Vineyard Pinot Noir the 2022 ‘Lamb Paddock’ are drinking beautifully, definitely the staff favourites at the moment as they are both delicate but sophisticated. While we are seeing the change of season we are also seeing a new wine tasting experience introduced to the Cellar Door. The ‘Single Vineyard’ tasting showcases wines from our smaller hand selected blocks that present the best potential of our premium vineyard locations, from only the best vintages. This includes the 2014 Heritage Tallawanta Shiraz, a true blast from the past and something truly worthy of the prestigious 2014 vintage. This is now live on our website and available for booking. The team and I all hope to see as many of you as possible and ensure we keep your cellar full.
Cellar Door SUMMER FAV O U R I T E S FROM T HE CELL A R DOOR 2 02 2 L I M I T E D R E L E A S E
‘Venator’ Semillon Hunter Valley 2 02 3 S I NG L E V I N E YA R D
‘Stone Mountain’ Riesling Orange 2 02 2 S I NG L E V I N E YA R D
‘Pump Shed’ Chardonnay Wrattonbully 2 02 2 L I M I T E D R E L E A S E
Pinot Noir Orange
Cheers from Deano & the Cellar Door crew!
SUMMER 2022
11
Our top drops J
RRP
RRP
RRP
$ 55.00
$ 40.00
PER BTL
PER BTL RRP
$ 40.00
$ 55.00
PER BTL
PER BTL
12
PEPPER TREE WINES
2024 E V EN TS C A L E N DA R
March
July
August
Q4 & Members’ Sydney Luncheon Date TBC
Harvest Luncheon 2 Saturday 6th July
Q4 Winemakers Table Luncheon Saturday 17th August
Venue TBC—Sydney NSW
Muse Restaurant—Pokolbin NSW
PTW Winery Barrel Room, Pokolbin NSW
June Harvest Luncheon 1 Saturday 29th June Muse Restaurant—Pokolbin NSW
November Q4 & Members’ Harbour Cruise Saturday 16th November Sydney Harbour—Sydney NSW
86 Halls Road, Pokolbin NSW 2320 Phone 02 4909 7100 Freecall 1800 655 965 ptwclub@peppertreewines.com.au
peppertreewines.com.au
Keep an eye out for your invite! All event invitations are sent out 6 weeks prior to the event. Q4 Members receive priority notification & access. Due to the extremely high and growing demand, some events may have set ticket limitations per membership. Event details subject to change.
SUMMER 2023
13
Single Vineyard $30.00 COST
Tasting Experience.
PER PERSON
Sample wines from our smaller hand selected blocks that showcase the best potential of our premium vineyard locations, from only the best vintages.
These premium Single Vineyard wines are selectively produced to provide the the best examples from across our extensive portfolio and will drink both now or cellar beautifully over the next decade or two! The $30.00 tasting fee will be redeemed upon any purchase of 6 or more wines (this offer is per individual purchase). Tasting duration is approximately 45 minutes. Tastings by appointment, please visit our bookings page: peppertreewines.com.au/experiences
14
PEPPER TREE WINES
SUMMER 2023
Winemakers Luncheon Review
19 t h AU G US T 202 3
A beautiful sunny day with canapes on the lawn accompanied with some gorgeous Sparkling Silenus, what a wonderful way to start the Q4 Winemakers luncheon 2023. Our Q4 members excitedly entered the barrel room to two long tables dimly lit by fairy lights. After second course we all moved outside in teams of 6 proudly wearing our new personalised aprons to become winemakers. With test tubes and beakers, we measured and tasted our samples till we made the perfect drop, hopefully producing the next award-winning wine, handing over our precious sample to Nick and John for judging. After our 3rd course the winner was announced and Congratulations to the 'Team - 102%'. Everyone had a fantastic day with great food from Muse Restaurant matched perfectly to our wines and fantastic music from Nic Saxon. So that’s a wrap for another Q4 Winemakers lunch till next year, hope to see you there to join in all the fun!!
15
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Cellar Door 86 Halls Road | Pokolbin NSW 2320 Phone: 02 4909 7100 Freecall: 1800 655 965 E m a il: pt wclub@pepper treewines.com.au
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