2023 Terrason Aligoté

This is our sixth release from the volcanic soils of Whitfield in the King Valley. A mild summer resulted in the good acid levels for which Aligoté is renowned. Picked at around 11.5 baumé, de-stemmed before spending 12 hours skin contact. Pressed and then sent to oak for fermentation. Natural ferment took around six months to complete (our cellar gets seriously cold in autumn!). Racked to the tank in January before being prepared for bottling.
Herbal, nutty, citrus and a little creamy but with a saline element which works well given the lower alcohol.

REVIEW Mike Bennie Winefront

A strong track record for this wine. And a delicious one. King Valley is the source here. One of those wines where you easily say ‘one of the most interesting, best priced wines from Australia overall’. Marc Lunt from Terrason seems to ebb and flow out of the spotlight, dropping dreamy, brilliant releases, a scratch of super fine imports, and then disappears mysteriously for periods of time. Of course, to add in credentials, he was was the first overseas winemaker to train at Domaine Armand Rousseau. His drinking broadly and interest in left of centre imports adds additional credentials to his wines.

It marries fresh fruit and savouriness in a just-so manner, precision of lemon-lime, nashi pear and tonic water with gingery spice trailing through gentle hazelnut and delicate sea spray qualities. It sits in the palate with medium weight juiciness while also offering a squeakiness to texture and a pleasing, saline-laced mineral pucker to close. When you add up all those characters, and roll in a few superlatives, you are drinking one seriously great white wine.

Rated : 94 Points
Tasted : SEP24
Alcohol : 11.5%
Price : $40
Closure : Diam
Drink : 2024 - 2029