2007 Big men In Tights*
2007 Riesling
2006 Chardonnay*
2004 Schubert (premium Chardonnay)
2005 Noble Riesling
(sold out)
2001 Chirac(sold out)
2004 Shiraz
2003 Cabernet Sauvignon*
2004 Malbec
2001 Merlot Noir (sold out)
2004 Maurice (premium Cabernet blend)
2006 Pinot Noir*
* = new releases
e have occasionally released this luscious super-late
picked dessert style. These sweet wines usually are the result of
a preliminary botrytis infection towards the end of vintage which is
bowled over by the first cracking frosts in late April or early May. If
the weather stays cold and dry, the grapes concentrate on the vine over
the subsequent 2-3 months and are gingerly hand-harvested from the end
of May to the beginning of July. Normally (sic) botrytis takes hold towards
the end of vintage and either the sugars gradually concentrate to around
40 Brix (40%) or the weather changes and we count our losses. The wine
itself can end up with around 11.5% Al/Vol and 150 to 180 grammes/Litre
residual sweetness. When young, the wine is a pale light green gold in
colour showing crisp apple-lime and passion fruit flower aromas with refined
botrytis influences in a palate which tends towards lively citrus acidity
and silky native honey influences. This means that it is a wine for light
crisp fruit accented summer desserts. There's also some gentle lime
and apricot in an aromatic bouquet which flows through to the palate, and
while moderately sweet, the natural lively acid of the Riesling leaves
the palate refreshed. As mentioned above, try it with any fruit based dessert
(e.g. pear flans, mangoes, berries, peaches etc. ) mid weight blue cheese
or ices such as grapefruit, or strawberry & pineapple. The important
thing to remember is that the food you choose should always be slightly lower
in sweetness than the wine itself.
Hide your sons and
daughters, Bloodwood Big Men is back in town. This wine is 95% Malbec
and 5% cabernet Franc and we think this new release can hold it's head
up in the tradition of wrestling wines of the mysterious Bloodwood past.."Big
Men in Tights" as this wine is affectionately known is the wine
for wrestlers; (and bikies grandmothers).... in fact it's for anybody
who is genuinely serious about not being too serious about wine. It
is the bastard bred earthy child of our colourful French Malbec
Clone which occupies about 1 acre of the Bloodwood Blend Block. It's a
wine which (we've been told) has been held responsible for at least two
successful pregnancies and countless seductions under the mid-summer skies
of Cremorne Point in Sydney, but it's greatest claim to fame is that
one devotee apparently witnessed Andy Warhol jitterbugging out of his
grave when he (ol' Andy) first tried it! This version will no doubt soon
be featuring discretely under the more discerning banana chairs on a beach
near you....and in some really posh nosheries! As the label reports "About
as red hot as a T3 tranche on special, at least this frankly full dividend
in your future pink drinking sureties will yield a very palatable return
replete with rose water turkish delight and spice into an otherwise bland
portfolio awash with colourless saccharin imitation offers. And yes, there
is enough bitter dark chocolate and raspberry jujube in this lolly jar
to appease every last amigo's mum. So keep the dastards honest, stick this
in the fridge, splash it in a glass and remind yourself once more, all this
will pass!" Al/
Vol 13.0% What more can we say?
Case Price including freight anywhere in Australia $222.00
At Bloodwood we pick
our Riesling on pH. If the pH is around 3.0, then the fruit and acid
balance is likely to be about right. The 2007 fruit was hand-picked
and chilled to about 1 degree C before being whole-bunch pressed
under CO2. The chilling and gentle pressing meant that there
was little sulfur 
added prior to pressing and the use of inert gasses as
a protective blanket against oxidation meant we preserved the natural
seasonal characters of the fruit during the whole wine making process.
The yield was around average and the quality of the wine in this good growing
season for aromatic whites is very pleasing. Brilliant green
gold in colour with fragrant lemon/lime infused aromas which build in
the mouth to include citrus and spice in a fruit generous and mineral influenced
racy palate finishing with pleasing acidity. With careful cellaring look
for subtle honey and straw to develop alongside the lime and citrus
over the next 5 to 10 years or so.
Orange is ideally suited for Riesling provided it is not grown on too rich a site and the cropping levels are limited to around 7 tonnes per hectare. This was the first Riesling style to emerge from the Orange Region and we believe it shows great promise in years when the fruit is not over ripened and the natural pH of the must is around 3.0. The deep, free draining warm gravels of Bloodwood give Riesling an austerity and fruit density which remains rare in Australian styles. Bloodwood Riesling, while attractive when young, with careful cellaring will show its best over a decade or so.... For example, the 97 is still very complex and rewarding current drinking.
We find it goes wonderfully well with fresh asparagus spears and capsicum mayonnaise and practically anything Asian.
2007 " Gentle green gold in colour with a complex bouquet of crushed kaffir lime leaf, talc and citrus blossom, this Bloodwood Riesling shows a generously flavoured, fine palate, infused with the textures of ripe lime, native honey and a racy minerality so distinctive of this vineyard. Excellent drinking now, this wine will fully repay careful medium term cellaring." Al Vol 12.5%
Case Price including freight anywhere in Australia $270.00
"An enticing bouquet of dark berry fruits, violets,mocca chocolate
and delicate French oak announces the finely balanced, fruit rich palate
of this fragrant Bloodwood Cabernet Sauvignon. The closely woven very
fine tannins add definition and balance to the long focussed palate of
this wine and ensure it has the elegance and structure to fully repay a
special place in your cellar." Al/Vol 13.5%.
The 2003 vintage was very dry and warm at Bloodwood. The drought conditions meant the fruit was fully ripened in what was a typical stable clear Orange autumn. These conditions led to an early vintage with true varietal character in keeping with the mid weight style which will compliment many foods.. . Rhonda recommends a bacon and venison terrine for starters, lamb for main or interestingly, asparagus and prosciutto pasta (basil, caper & butter with grated parmesan tossed through).
Case Price including freight anywhere in Australia $320.00
Packed with
aromatic rich berry fruit and violets, this premium Bloodwood red
exhibits vibrant colour and palate textures underlain with sweet
new French oak. A seductive style of red which we are proud to recommend.
The Maurice represents a selection of the best half dozen barrels
of red produced from the vintage. As a consequence the composition
of each wine varies from year to year. For example, the 98 was 100%
Merlot Noir while this release is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon. In
order to release a Maurice from a vintage, the red wines in prospect undergo
an exhaustive selection process which eventually allows us to put together
a parcel of wine which is of the quality our concept of Maurice demands.
The wine is named in honour of that great Australian wine maker
Maurice O'Shea. 2004 "Deep ruby in colour, the fine bouquet
of cedar and mint infused blackberries and dark chocolate complement the
hints of vanillin char from extended gentle maturation in tight grained
French oak hogsheads. Blackberries and sweet vanilla suffuse a long textured
and intense palate of lively fruit framed with graceful tannin. Careful
medium term cellaring will add to your enjoyment of this wine." Al/Vol 13.5%
Case Price including freight anywhere
in Australia $390.00
Pinot Noir is about as annoying as any wine can be. It is difficult to grow, variable in crop level and appallingly difficult to make with any consistency of style in Australia. Although we have made and largely consumed ourselves quite a few Bloodwood Pinots over the years, this is only the fourth one we've let loose on society. We think it's at least as good as the 2005. We only made a very small parcel of Pinot in 2006, so there are only 20 cases left as of 31/05/08. If you have pinotfile tendencies, get in quick!. "This fragrant hand crafted Pinot Noir with its perfect garnet hues and enticingly lifted cherry blossom and spice aromas will invite you into an alluring and savoury blood plum world laced with subtle mocca oak char infused into an early autumnal forest floor. Those ladies old handbags are lurking there again, complementing the fine persistent tannins and distinguished bouquet of this fine Bloodwood Pinot Noir. " Al/Vol 13.5%
Case Price including freight anywhere in Australia $520.00
"Light green gold in colour, this generously flavoured wine has a splendid bouquet of peach and pomelo blossom seamlessly merged into a long, lively fruit dominant nectarine and citrus tinged palate. It was gently fermented and matured in new and second use premium French oak hogsheads for twelve months, and the resultant fine butterscotch char beautifully compliments the racy and refreshing structure of this fine Bloodwood Chardonnay. With appropriate cellaring, it will continue to develop for several years." Al/Vol 13.5%."
There are two Chardonnay vineyards at Bloodwood. The "Schubert" vineyard is planted to an I10V5 clonal selection, is trained to a
split canopy, each vine occupies 4.5 square metres and
the row orientation is North South. 
The 2005 Chardonnay comes from the original Chardonnay planting in
Orange which originated from an old mass selection of Montrachet vines,
(P58?) , and is trained to a VSP (Vertical Shoot Position) in the traditional
French style. Each vine occupies 2.4 square metres and the row orientation
is East West. No wonder the "Schubert" and the Chardonnay are two different
wines. 
This Chardonnay traditionally has a fruit driven
bouquet rich in citrus, melon/fig notes and cashew nuts in a
smoky new French oak nose. The palate is silky smooth and very
well balanced, and goes on forever. This is an Australian Chardonnay
you will want to drink more than one glass of and you'll want to live
to tell the tale. Rhonda recommends sea foods, prawns or just fish and
chips; chicken or pasta dishes or simple mushroom pate with that squeeze
of lemon.
This
is a robust wine from a very warm, dry vintage at Bloodwood, nevertheless
the really attractive bouquet and balance through the palate are outstanding
features of this Bloodwood Shiraz . "Brilliant
red purple in colour, the bright black fruit and amaretti bouquet of
this wine runs through a balanced, generously flavoured fruit rich palate
of spice and subtle licorice. Fine grained, persistent Burgundian
oak influences enhance the structure and length of this bright Australian
Shiraz. Careful medium term cellaring will add to your enjoyment of this
fine wine." Al/Vol 14.0%
2001 Merlot Noir (Sold Out)
Our Merlot Noir is not a blend of Pinot Noir
and Merlot. To quote Jancis Robinson's introduction to Merlot in
her excellent publication Vines, Grapes and Wines, p 91 "Merlot,
or more properly, Merlot Noir as there is a distinctly different
variety called Merlot Blanc, is one of the worlds great underdogs"
And so to raise this unfortunate puppy to it's rightful place in
the wine pack, the least we can do is give it it's correct name. Merlot
Blanc as a variety does exist, and there are even examples of Merlot
Noir being grown in too cool sites in northern Italy and southern Switzerland
which have been chemically stripped of their less than exciting pink colour
and marketed as Merlot Blanco. So let's strike a blow for one of the
better varieties in the Orange vineyard (after all it was the first
variety planted at Bloodwood 20 years ago) and change the face of Australian
labeling. At three years of age, this wine is really living up to early
expectations of quality we have always held for it. I thoroughly recommend
this wine as a finer style of Australian Merlot Noir.
"Mid-green gold in colour,
this complex textured wine was entirely barrel fermented and matured in new
French oak hogsheads. It's appealing bouquet provides layers of tropical citrus,
native honey and hints of spicy oak which announce a tightly structured and
elegant palate of subtle power. Appropriate medium term cellaring will add
to your enjoyment of this complex Bloodwood Chardonnay." Al/Vol 14%
The "Schubert" is named
in honour of Max Schubert. We were beginning the breaking of the soil
for this vineyard on the day he passed away (6th March 1994)
and although the wine is white it has flavour aplenty. We are only
able to make about 220 cases of this wine from the Schubert vineyard
so quantities will remain limited. Because the secondary malo-lactic fermentation
(during which the bright malic (apple) acid in wine grapes is converted
into a softer lactic (milky) acid) is limited in this Chardonnay style),
the natural acid balance and fruit richness of this wine copes well with
dishes like traditional roast pork. Yum.
The Biggest Fizz In The Pacific! (Sold Out) Next
vintage release in the 2009 Bloodwood bible"
An aromatic ooze of Pinot Noir in the bouquet and palate
builds texture and richness to this classic dry sparkling wine, while
48 months spent on lees in this bottle prior to disgorgement in March
2005 adds a layered creamy complexity to the underlying bright Chardonnay
pink grapefruit and pear characters so typical of this style's persistent
crisp acidity" Al/Vol 11.5%
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