The Last Straw is our venerable and distinctive 100% Marsanne. This sweet wine is inspired by the fabulous vin de paille of France’s Rhône Valley.
In both France and Italy a traditional method of obtaining concentrated sugars and flavours is to lay harvested grapes on straw mats where they are left in the sun to dehydrate.
Enjoy with: The freshness of this sweet wine loves fruit based desserts, think of the Australian icon - Peach Melba - for inspiration. Alternately, it will serve equally well as an aperitif - saltiness is its perfect counter point -try Manchego with quince paste, green olives, fried whitebait or salt cod fritters.
Select bunches from the low yielding 2013 vintage were air dried for six weeks before being crushed and pressed. We then transfer this unfermented juice into a new 500 litre French Puncheon for fermentation until the yeast can go no longer. The resultant wine is bottled post fermentation and allowed to mature for 15 months before release.
With initial aromatics of white flower, the wine is one of ripe pear and stone fruit flavours delivered with clarity. The palate has notes of honeysuckle and is lifted by bright acidity for a balanced dry finish.
Download: Tasting notes and info pack.
Partially dried marsanne grapes were fermented in new French oak and then bottle-matured for 15 months. Bright green-gold, it is extremely complex, the sweetness balances by savoury spicy flavours; prolonged cellaring might see an exceptional wine develop.
95 points