Best Home Barrel Fortified Winners

Sep 30, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

Announcing the winners of the prestigious “Best Home Barrel Blend” for the 2018 competition. Judging took place in September with three expert judges deliberating samples of Tawny and white fortified wines sent in from our customer base.

Wines were very high standard with very little to pick on in terms of faults. All entries were worthy of medals. The winning wines showed complex flavours, great depth and balance. Entrants gained Ron?s specialist advice on how to improve their blend, which we believe is the most important outcome of this event.

Thanks to everyone who entered and helps support our business. We are only too happy to help you with our complete range of fortifieds to achieve the best results for your barrels.

Congratulations to all winners!

First Place: John Ridenour
Second Place: Martin Kennedy
Third Place: Filippo Pizzino

Ron Liebich’s winemaking comments:

Smaller barrels need to be “worked” to achieve best results. It is ok to have great rancio characters, the high ratio of wood in small barrels to wine means adding younger wine at times, preferably with minimum wood age (such as Ruby Fortified) as a portion of the addition. Youthful fortifieds are perfect for blending out excess wood tannin and maintaining fruit wood balance. The gold winners had the best balance of fruit and oak integration, indicating good management and? patience.

Read more
Event Wrap Up: Fortified Fest

Event Wrap Up: Fortified Fest

Jul 14, 2013

Once again, we cleared out the sheds to host this annual event with pop up wine bar, band on stage and mobile food vendors. We were all glad for the shed space as the day was a cold blustery day in late June.

We had our most diverse range of food yet which pleased young and old. Popular Adelaide food truck Sneaky Pickle served up a tasting plate of a mini pulled pork bun and beef brisket burger with fried and fried pickles on the side. Alexandrina Cheese Company ?trekked all the way from Mt Compass to offer cheese tastings, platters and cheeses to take home. And for sweets, Little Dot Bake Shop returned after a successful outing at our 20th Anniversary celebration with divine sweet indulgences. There was also a stall selling quality dried stonefruit from the Riverland (the same used in our drunken fruits).

Music was provided by the local trio Finnigan who kept the crowd swaying with a good mix of folk and country with an Irish twang. Children were kept amused by a master animal balloon maker. There were two fortified workshops hosted by Ron to highlight the developing flavours of our four different grape varieties. A sensory skills quiz was prepared to match various odours with their descriptions.

Thanks to all who assisted with this huge event and to everyone who attended! It was fantastic to see so many new faces and to hear that people had travelled far and wide.

See more photos

FF13 pickle van 1 FF13 workshop 4a

Read more