by Renee Wood
The beginning of vintage is a pivotal time for wine producers as they start to receive fruit drops from local growers.
Adrian Santolin from Santolin Wines said sparkling based varieties – Pinot and Chardonnay – are the first to be delivered to their Warrandyte South winery.
Mr Santolin said the fruit coming in has been of high quality despite yields being down for the year due to weather events.
“That rainfall certainly put on a lot of disease pressure, so all the growers had to be right on top of their spray programs, and everyone has been, so we haven’t seen too much disease out there – they’re still good quality grapes,” he said.
The varieties most affected are Pinot and Chardonnay – the two the region is known for specialising in.
Mr Santolin expects varieties such as Shiraz and Cabernet will see normal yields for the year.
“We’ll be down in volume this year, we’ll probably be around 30 per cent down in terms of intake. 2021 was a pretty good yielding year, so the universe has got its way of evening things out.”
During vintage, Mr Santolin spends most of his time at the winery, leaving home when it’s dark and returning when the skies a similar shade, with timing very critical during this period.
“Once everything is fermented, stored in tanks and barrels and everything’s locked away then things start to calm down.”
This year Santolin Wines is looking to trial something different, making a premium traditional method sparkling and said some other small experimentations will be made for other varieties.
The majority of the fruit being used will come from Yarra Glen and Dixons Creek and some will be delivered from Gladysdale and Yarra Junction next month.
Several of the Santolin labels are defined by their vineyard’s location, named after where the fruit has been grown to express its unique growing characteristics.
“We want all our wines to express the vineyard that they come from, because you can get the same wine variety, make it the same way from a couple of different vineyards and each batch of wine will taste differently.”
Adrian and his wife Rebecca started Santolin Wines in 2012 and like to let the grapes speak for themselves, creating a conversation with the palette on regions and seasonal conditions.
Mr Santolin said this season has been quite cool with cool nights, which retained a lot of natural acidity in the grapes.
A mild summer without many scorching 40 degree days will also create wines that are ‘delicate and elegant’.
“We’ve had some nice ripening weather now, so they are still going to get ripe enough and will still have the lovely fruit flavours, and wines that should have a little bit of weight and texture about them.”
“If it’s a warm year or cool year the wines taste different. Essentially, we’re trying to make wine but tell the story of the year that they experienced, so it’s like we take you on a little journey in the glass.”
Mr Santolin said their production is based off minimal intervention.
“We try and find growers to work with that produce good fruit, we want to have good relationships with those guys.”
Although, Mr Santolin said small producers are also starting to find it hard to compete for local fruit with an increase in larger companies purchasing wineries, vineyards or signing large contracts.
“The availability of especially Pinot in the Yarra is getting quite tough because a lot of larger businesses are purchasing either vineyards or wineries or securing contracts with a lot of growers.
“So for smaller guys, it is getting a little bit tougher to get some of the fruit that you might have been getting previously.”
Mr Santolin said he hasn’t personally been affected by this and has built good relationships with his growers, while also making connections in his position as chief winemaker at Rob Dolan Wines.
“We’re fortunate for that and its something that gives our business a bit more stability otherwise we probably would find it a lot tougher.”
