Sirromet Wines Le Sauvage ‘wild yeast’ range has recently won two gold medals at the 2013 Austrian Wine Challenge in Vienna.
Sirromet Wines has won two gold medals at the 2013 Austrian Wine Challenge in Vienna for products in its Le Sauvage ‘wild yeast’ range made from Granite Belt fruit.
The Queensland company’s gold medal-winning wines were a newly-released 2010 Le Sauvage Shiraz Viognier, and a 2009 Le Sauvage Chardonnay.
Sirromet’s Wild Yeast range competed against over 12,000 entries from over 39 countries.
The Mount Cotton based winery won with its newly released 2010 Le Saucage Shiraz Viognier and a 2009 Le Sauvage Chardonnay, both made from fruit from the Granite Belt.
This range used fruit from the best blocks of their Granite Belt vineyards, allowing the ‘wild yeast’ on the fruit to start the fermentation process naturally. This process allows for interesting flavours and textures to enhance wine quality.
Chief Winemaker Adam Chapman said the two gold medals recognised Sirromet’s progress with ‘wild yeast’ styles, which followed lengthy trials at the company’s vineyards at Ballandean on the Granite Belt.
“There are more risks with the wild ferment process, compared to using cultured yeast, but it creates extra dimensions of regional and varietal characters.
We trialled specific vineyard blocks with wild ferments over a few years to see what flavours they produced, and how these were affected by certain seasonal variations. You have to understand the native flora,”
Adam Chapman, Sirromet Chief Winemaker
Earlier in September Sirromet also won three gold medals at the China Wine and Spirits Awards in Hong Kong.
Sirromet’s results in Vienna also included silver medals for a 2010 Private Collection LM Reserve Assemblage red blend, and a 2011 Chardonnay, a 2011 Viognier, a 2011 Shiraz Viognier, and a 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon from its Signature Collection range
LE SAUVAGE wine range includes:
- 2009 Cabernet Shiraz
- 2009 Chardonnay
- 2009 Nebbiolo
- 2010 Pinot Gris
