A 2.5 hectare vineyard owned by Barry and Jan Morey on the outskirts on Beechworth, Victoria, Australia. The vineyard is surrounded by forest on 2 sides and a stoney creek runs across the back boundary.
They selected this particular area for viticulture due to the cool climate and granite soils. The undulating site provides good drainage and the vines have a northern facing aspect which helps to ensure that full-ripeness is achieved, even with some later ripening varieties.
The tradition of wine making in strong in the Morey family, going back over 50 years to the Mosel river in Germany. Barrys Grandfather, Jacob Barzen, emigrated to Australia to work on a family vineyard and winery at Dookie. The name Sorrenberg comes from a small vineyard owned by the Barzen family near a town called Reil on the Mosel.
The first vines were planted in 1985 and the first vintage was in 1989. They mainly work with Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc and Gamay with small amounts of Cabernt Franc, Merlot, Semillon and Pinot Noir. All grapes are processed at the vineyard and traditional methods are used throughout the wine-making process. For example fermentation is carried out in French Barriques. Sorrenberg make hand made wines with low production amounts allowing individual attention to be given to every single barrel of wine, ensuring the best quality and most flavour. Since very early on sustainable methods have been used in the vineyards and they were certified Demeter in 2008 by the Biodynamic Research Institute Powelltown in 2008.
Beechworth is a historical town in the north east of Victoria, Australia. A gold rush in 1852 brought prosperity to the small region and nowadays it is home to many wineries that have a passion for making the best artisan wines, with more than a dozen vineyards that sit on the mineral rich hills. The soil is mainly old sandstone with gravel over clay and grantic top soils over clay derived from volcanic deposits.
Sorrenberg Chardonnay 2015
100% barrel fermented in french barriques with 20-30% new oak. Natural yeast fermentation helps to add complexity to the wine. The wine goes through a complete malolatic fermentation. The wine is then left on it’s lees for 10 months with weekly stirring and after a further 8 months of aging still in barrel. As much low intervention as possible to make sure maximum flavour is retained. The wine finishes with delicate aromas of lemon zest with some peach and pineapple. The palate is very mineral with grapefruit, lemon, slight toasty oak and a round creaminess.
In wine, there is truth 