Description
‘Someone asked me the other day something to the tune of ‘who are the next generation of newer generation producers who will truly create a legacy in Australian wine … I would put Ravensworth and Bryan Martin firmly in the list. No misses from him. Building a formidable argument to prestige.‘ Mike Bennie, The Wine Front.
‘As a talented food writer, cook and forager, Bryan Martin thinks deeply about textures and flavours. This combined with over a decade’s experience at Clonakilla, has resulted in a suite of distinctive Ravensworth wines’ Huon Hooke, Gourmet Traveller Wine.
Bryan Martin was assistant winemaker and ‘right hand man’ to Tim Kirk at Clonakilla for 20 years. However Ravensworth has been he and wife Jocelyn’s passion since 2001. Finishing up at Clonakilla in 2019 he focuses solely now on Ravensworth in Murrumbateman in the Canberra district.
Clonakilla has often been thought as the leading winery in the region but Ravensworth has gained much success and critical praise including winning the International Riesling Challenge in 2012 and in 2015 he was runner up Winemaker of the Year for Gourmet Traveller Wine.
Martin’s approach is deliberately unconventional – he produces a range of brilliant, regionally classic wines, offset by a decent smattering of genre-bending experiments. Shiraz is the main crop on the Ravensworth Estate, followed by Riesling and Sangiovese. Then there’s Rhône white varietals such as Marsanne and Roussane plus Gamay and Nebbiolo. Not only does Martin use a wide range of varieties, but clonal differences across these are also utilised for complexity and tonality.
Everything at the Estate is grown with organic principles and the vineyard is consciously farmed as an element of a wider ecosystem in balance with other flora and fauna so it can develop to its greatest potential. This balance limits any chemicals or other nasties. A little old Italian tractor is employed rather than heavy machinery, and likewise in the cellar, the winemaking uses a light touch. There’s no recipe—a range of techniques and vessels are used, always dependent on what the vintage presents.
The Estate label wines feature a beautiful and evocative label which Bryan says “.. are a take on what we would have as a coat of arms … a visual depiction of how we see wine and food. Entwined, joyous, slightly nervy.”
About this wine from the winemaker: “Our Rhone white blend this year is dominated by Viognier (48%) then Marsanne (32%) and Roussanne (20%). A cooler year has given the wine a nice zesty acidity and more delicate flavours. Stone fruit, ginger, lemon curd, orange rind and honeysuckle. A lot going on here. Fermented and matured in foudre for two years”
“Cellaring: 10 – 15 years and beyond. Something interesting: Each variety is very different: Viognier very thick skinned; Marsanne, thin skinned that looks brown brown when ripe; Roussanne, looks like semilon and carries most of the acidity of the three. Drink with: Great with seafood, particularly shellfish, also works with savoury cheese.”
94 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate. “Aromatically, the wine leads with yellow peach, pineapple and star anise; in the background, there’s a suggestion of mineral turpentine layered with white tea, sweet mint and brine. In the mouth, the wine speaks of its élevage, with toasted nuts in profusion, intermingled with white chocolate, flowers and really great length. While I may comment that the oak is pronounced here, the wine is complex, long, layered and powerful. It has really great shape and length. It’s very good, a wine for the future. It has an attractive Rhône Valley stamp. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. “
94 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front “A blend of viognier, marsanne, roussanne. Portions are topped up, some left alone on lees. The blend is blended back across some chardonnay lees and hangs out in large format Stockinger barrel. A lot of shifting things around to get that profile up from 2023’s weaker pulse of seasonal flavour, per se. In that, the savouriness is a charm here, texture too. Clever. All the nuts and brine, an amontillado kind of note with light, washy green apple fruit, lime juice, a gently sweet lemony profile, nashi pear too. Lots of character emerges in the lighter, looser knit frame here, but the wine ends up compelling for that savoury twist and the overall impression is a wine to savour, or to use as final condiment in the glass for something substantial on the table. Serious wine.”
RRP $53 *Our Special Price $44.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine*
