The Beauty of the Victorian High Country
08 June 2016,—
In the latest edition of Selector Life Food Wine, Megan Blandford takes a culinary and vinous tour of the Victorian High Country and drops into Box Grove Vineyard to find out what new things Sarah's trying to fit with the region’s climate.
"I've planted Vermentino, which is rough drought resistant. In Italy, they grow it out of the rocks and it produces beautiful dry whites.
From Roussanne I pick early to make Verjus and then a week or so later I pick it to make a Sparkling wine by Methode Champenoise, which is crisp, it's still got those delicate pear flavours, and I leave it on lees for three or four weeks so it's got lovely complexity.
I also make a white wine from the Roussanne, and then I put a touch of Roussanne in with the Shiraz and ferment them together, so that adds a velvety character and perfume to the nose of the Shiraz; it's a very Rhone style."
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