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The Name
Whilst living and winemaking in the Yarra Valley, I discovered the joys of
breeding and showing chickens. This passion led me to visit France in 1996
to witness first hand their traditional methods of breeding chickens and I
dedicate our wines to the famous chickens of France and what they represent
– artisan production using traditional, age old methods.

The Vineyard
This Riesling was grown in our 25 year old vineyard situated in the Harcourt
Valley, central Victoria. Harcourt Valley is uncharacteristically cool for a
central Victorian wine region. Nestled between the Mount Alexander range
and a large ridge, the valley is subject to particularly cool mornings and
afternoon shading due to the large ridge. This combination results in a
prolonged growing season which produces intensely flavoured fruit. The
vines were caned pruned and crop thinned to produce crops of less than 1.2
tonnes to the acre. It is this low-cropped fruit that has, in large part, produced
such a full flavoured wine.

Winemaking
My winemaking belief is that good fruit should be treated gently and with
minimal intervention. The Bress 2009 Harcourt Valley Riesling O.D. was
treated in this manner. Techniques I was exposed to in Bordeaux in the early
1990’s, tasting countless sweet style German and Austrian Rieslings and
speaking at length to a number of these producers has provided me with a
range techniques that I utilise in making this wine. These include:

• Picking on fruit flavour and natural acid levels rather than sugar levels.
• Using a yeast strain that was isolated in Australia that has a high sugar to alcohol ratio and enhances varietal fruit aromas and flavours.
• Ensuring that the fermentation took over 4 weeks to complete at low temperatures, (generally 10 to 12 degrees).

Following fermentation, the wine was settled, blended and gently filtered
prior to bottling in July. This Bress Harcourt Valley Riesling was bottled
using a Screw Cap closure. Using a Screw Cap closure is our attempt to
ensure that our wine is presented free of cork characters (good or bad) and
that the full aroma and flavour of this wine is expressed.

Tasting Notes
Colour: Very pale golden straw with youthful green tinges. Aroma: The
wine offers a complex array of fruit aromas of citrus, spice and green skinned
fruit. Palate: The wine is deliberately made as a sweeter style Riesling. It has
very attractive Riesling flavours of marmalade, cinnamon spice and green
skinned fruit. There is a textural mid palate richness evident in the wine due
to the prolonged fermentation. The finish is unctuous, well rounded and has
a lovely acid balance which ensures the wine is not cloying.

Please enjoy this traditionally made hand crafted wine.