Welcome to the 2007 November issue of the Seppelt eNewsletter. In this edition we will take another look at the new Seppelt Silverband wines, share a couple of great reviews of the Vineyard Range and taste the recently released Victorian red wines.

We also have a word from our Senior Winemaker Emma Wood, news of the exciting forthcoming events at our Winery in the Grampians and a great competition!

Seppelt Wines wish you a safe and happy festive season and we look forward to bringing you more great Seppelt wines in 2008.

› A word from Emma Wood
› Seppelt Silverband Wines go from strength to strength
› New Seppelt Victorian red releases
› Great reviews for the Seppelt Vineyard Range
› Christmas competition
› Forthcoming events

Seppelt Vineyard Range

In September we released our definitive range of cool climate wines, the Seppelt Vineyard Range. These wines truly express the grape variety and the character of the region from which they are sourced, offering balanced flavours and great cellaring ability. The reds consist of three very different cool climate Shiraz, each with a bold and individual style that showcases classic fruit flavour framed by judicious use of oak. The white wine is the Drumborg Riesling which although only produced in very small amounts this year, only 100 cases were made, is sure to become a classic.

Emma Wood says "You can taste the diversity between the Grampians, Bendigo and Heathcote from the same year. In terms of taste profiles you can taste the savoury spice mulberry-like Grampians, the Cherry of Bendigo to the Raspberry perfume of Heathcote together with a range of intensities and tannins that makes them unique."

"When making these wines it is critical we show their personality and that of the region from which they are sourced. As an example, with the 2005 Seppelt St. Peters (Grampians) Shiraz the winemaking team aimed to build texture and complexity whilst displaying the breadth and uniqueness of flavour that this wine can achieve."

These wines are already attracting rave reviews in the press. The 2005 Seppelt Benno Shiraz, the third vintage of this single region wine, caught the eye of Winefront's Campbell Mattinson. Writing in June 2007 he notes, "It's pretty much structured to perfection. It tastes of violets, blackberries fresh leather and cloves, a regional hit of eucalypt apparent throughout the wine. This will live a very long time — it's beautifully balanced too. Seppelt has done a great job with this one — the label has arguably come of age. It could easily contend as a regional classic in 15 years time."

The 2005 Seppelt St. Peters Shiraz was sourced entirely from the St. Peters vineyard in the Grampians and displays a fearless commitment to style based on elegance, complexity, structure and length. Kerry Skinner in the Illawarra Mercury (24 October 2007) wrote, "it's a complex and classy beast, smooth and supple, with an intense core of spice and pepper melded with black fruit flavours, unobtrusive oak and fine tannins."

The third red offering in the range, the 2005 Seppelt Mount Ida Shiraz is entirely sourced from Heathcote. This wine has a concentrated and inky palate with flavours of blood plum, spice and cherry. Ken Gargett, writing in the Brisbane Courier Mail (9 October 2007) declared the Mount Ida his pick of the releases describing its, "big, bold, meaty style with some coffee grind spice and black fruits. Full flavoured, it finishes with gentle tannins."

The white wine in the range, the 2007 Seppelt Drumborg Riesling is described by Emma as a wine of outstanding quality. The Drumborg Vineyard experiences challenging weather conditions and in 2007 damaging frosts reduced the total yield. Happily, the Riesling that was harvested was of excellent quality and a real highlight with pure Riesling characters of lime, orange blossom and sweet spice supported by the vineyard's distinct talc-like mineral acidity.

Contact the Seppelt Cellar Door for more information.