Dernierement, notre membre Helene Roy m'a donne un article sur un Quebecois qui a un vignoble dans le Yarra Valley. Sa conjointe Dena est dans le domaine du cinema !
Guy offre aux membres du Quebec Oz Club un rabais de !5% quand vous achetez son vin directement au www.wedgetailestate.com.au
Son vin est fantastique et de haute gamme ! Nous avons fait une degustation la semaine derniere et si vous etes des connaisseurs vous allez adorer !
Voici sa biographie en anglais ... et encouragez notre ami Guy, il livre son vin partout en Australie !
Guy Lamothe The winemaker
Quebec born Guy (Ghee) Lamothe used to be a magazine photographer, and started making tiny amounts of wine in his basement in Carlton in the 1980's. He studied at Charles Sturt University in Wagga in the mid 90's whilst planting his own vineyard in Cottles Bridge. Lamothe has had some very good experience working in Burgundy, at Tarra Warra in the Yarra Valley and at Craig Avon in the Mornington Peninsula. In 1994 he was able to put this to use in his approach to his own venture, establishing Wedgetail Estate. Admirable attention to detail, creating wine in harmony with the vineyard and a determination to only produces as much wine as he can personally tend to are his trademarks. Guy has specifically planted the vines at Wedgetail Estate so that he can focus on creating one wine at a time. The first vintage was in 1997. The winemaking is thoroughly influenced by Burgundy. Barrel fermentation and lees stirring with the Chardonnay, and cold soaking open fermentation and plunging with the Pinot Noir. In 1999 the modern winery was built.
Why the Yarra Valley? After looking for a year around Melbourne from the Mornington to Geelong I settled on the North West Corner of the Yarra Valley. The land has qualities similar to Diamond Valley and Arthurs Creek vineyards, situated 40km North East of Melbourne the soil constitutes a clay loam topsoil with 30 % gravel over a yellow clay. I was looking for terroir, which would offer the opportunity to create some delicate cool climate wines with consistent vintages. The vineyard at Wedgetail estate has an elevation of 200m and is planted on the site of an old orchard. The terroir is exciting, steep hills with different orientations forming an ampitheatre shape of 6 hectares. Grape varieties have been planted to specific orientation to maximise flavour and style, such as Chardonnay planted on the steep south facing slope to emphasise cool climate character. It ripens two weeks later than Pinot, which has an easterly aspect. The Merlot has a steep westerly aspect. It misses out on the early morning sun but does get the very warm afternoon sunrays. Finally the Cabernet and Shiraz have a good northerly slope to maximise ripening conditions.