“We have three unique blocks of Pinot Noir. The fruit chosen for the Sasso is grown from these. The three to five best-performing barrels are selected to produce a mid-weight wine with soft, savoury tannins and well-balanced acidity. It’s a style that we have always enjoyed making and drinking. The wine is only produced in exceptional years, with the 2020 being the ninth year of Sasso Pinot Noir production.” – Steve & Monique Lubiana
2020 Stefano Lubiana ‘Sasso’ Pinot Noir $132
100% estate-grown, biodynamic-certified, single-vineyard Pinot Noir from the Lubiana family vineyard in Granton in the Derwent Valley. The wine brings together three special terroirs: Grey gravelly loam over clay; black clay and grey gravelly silt with clay underneath; and classic terra rossa of red clay loam over marl limestone. The low-vigour parcels gave yields of 4.5 tonnes per hectare.
This wine is a barrel selection, chosen in the winery, not just the vineyard. 100% whole bunches are foot stomped, wild fermented in small open-top vats. Matured in French barriques (about 30% new) for 10 months before bottling under cork.
OTHER GEMS…
2021 Stefano Lubiana Estate Pinot Gris $45
This estate-grown, certified-biodynamic single-vineyard wine is grown on a mixture of grey gravelly loam, gravel, and red loam atop an old riverbed. The fruit is handpicked, sorted, crushed and left on skins for 72 hours prior to pressing. Naturally fermented in two- to five-year-old 500-litre puncheons, spending seven months on lees.
This wine has a light pink colour with an amber hue due to the extended skin contact. On the nose it displays rosewater and hints of ripe nashi pear flavours followed by a rich and textural palate that has a good balance, and with ripe fruit on the back palate. – Steve & Monique Lubiana
Copper sort of colour. Nashi pear, musk sticks, a little spice and aniseed. It’s all juicy sweet pear and strawberry, a talc-like texture, fresh acidity, a little bit of umami flavour, and a succulent finish of perfume, and some stony texture. It would go nicely with a succulent Chinese meal.
93 points. Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
2019 Stefano Lubiana Estate Chardonnay $70
The most layered and complex of the three Chardonnays we make, the ‘Estate’ is a classic example of a robust but beautifully balanced cool climate wine.
This wine has all the elements of a great Chardonnay present – fruit, oak, acid, creamy texture and complexity, but no element overpowers the other. A wonderful wine to enjoy now, or watch it grow and develop over the years. – Steve & Monique Lubiana
Bringing white peach, pear, and a smear of wild honey (plus that rarest of its type, calm acidity) into a coherent whole speaks of the winemaker’s skill and quality of the fruit with equal clarity. This is a gem; no wonder much of its wine consumed on the island. 13% alc, screwcap.
97 points. James Halliday, The Weekend Australian
2019 Stefano Lubiana Estate Pinot Noir $70
100% certified biodynamic, estate-grown, single-vineyard Pinot Noir from a mix of two terroirs: grey gravelly loams over clay and red loam over gravel. Fruit is handpicked and sorted by hand on a vibrating table. Matured in French oak for 8-10 months.
Our Estate Pinot Noir is always a wine that needs time to show its true colours. It is made for the long haul, with ample tannin and acidity as well as fruit density to last the distance. Densely packed layers of aroma on the nose, with a strikingly intense palate, are supported by especially vibrant and luscious fruit notes and fine tannin structure. A wine that will continue to open and grow with time in the bottle. – Steve & Monique Lubiana