2024 'Le Bourbon' Rosé

SNAPSHOT

• Style: Gastronomic, age-worthy rosé inspired by serious Bordeaux benchmarks
• Varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot (parcel-selected)
• Vegan: Yes (bentonite fined)

TERROIR

Ultra-cool inland site above Rylstone in the Great Dividing Range, ~650 m ASL with wide diurnal range. North-facing slopes rise from the Cudgegong River over Ordovician (≈450 Myr) limestone reef with shallow sandy and sandy-loam soils. The limestone’s low heat retention plus valley cold-air pooling create effective night-time temperatures equivalent to ~1,200–1,300 m, preserving acidity and perfume. Budburst typically late Sept/Oct; veraison Jan/Feb; harvest Mar/Apr. The district’s historic limestone was quarried nearby by Kandos Cement, underscoring the geology that shapes our wines.

VINTAGE & VINEYARD

Budburst was the last week of September. The season opened hot and dry with very low soil moisture, then flipped: stationary tropical systems over central Australia drove an exceptionally wet mid-to-late summer across the southeast. Result: a longer, slower ripening arc with vigilant canopy and disease management.
Harvest: Individually selected parcels of Cabernet and Merlot picked 18 March 2024 from ~25-year-old vines.

WINEMAKING

100% destemmed, ~4 hours skin maceration, then delicate pressing to stainless steel. Cool ferment for line and lift. Fined with bentonite (vegan friendly).

Extended maturation 12 months in tank, with a judicious use of inert oak staves to shape texture without overt flavour.

Analysis at bottling: pH: 3.3 TA: 5.8 g/L RS: ~1 g/L

TASTING

Colour: light salmon
Bouquet: rose petal, wild strawberry, a flutter of citrus zest.
Palate: dry and fresh with crisp acidity; light cherry and pink-grapefruit notes over a fine, mineral core; texture from short maceration and long lees time; finish is clean, saline-edged and persistent.

FOOD & SERVICE

Builds beautifully with Mediterranean and Japanese flavours: salade niçoise, paella, grilled chicken or lamb with herbs, sashimi/sushi, charcuterie, rustic pâtés/terrines, and sheep’s cheeses.
Serve: 10 °C in white-wine stems; a brief splash-decant is optional for aromatic lift.

Cellaring potential: up to 10 years for tertiary complexity and savoury depth (drink to 2034).

WHY THIS ROSÉ?

Grand-cru-style Bordeaux rosés showed the category’s “serious” side—dry, gastronomic, and age-worthy. On limestone in an ultra-cool site, Cabernet/Merlot deliver red-fruit perfume + line without heaviness. Short, precise skin contact builds hue and gentle phenolics; long lees time adds shape and glide. The aim is a table-first rosé that pairs like a white and thinks like a red—refreshing now, composed with time.