First Drop
Matt ‘Gantos’ Gant and John ‘JR’ Retsas are two mates with a lifelong commitment to making kick-arse booze. These are wines with flavour, texture and a splash of funk, made with the best fruit from unique patches of the Barossa, Adelaide Hills and McLaren Vale.
First Drop is about life, flavour, and fun – wines to drink! You might have noticed that they have a pretty artistic approach to their packaging too. Whether it’s the Hogarth-inspired Mother’s Ruin illustration or the funked-up street art on the 2% Shiraz, this is booze that looks as good as it tastes.
This petit Chardonnay was picked à main and then pressed avec les whole bunches.
Ne pas de SO2 and toutes les solides dans this barrel fermentation sauvage – ne pas
de yeast added! The oak is tête de hog Français, naturellement mon colonel, then six
months stirring avec les lees. We have here un vin restrained, sophisticated, fabrique
belgique.
Co l o u r
Mid straw
B o u q u e t
Apples and pears, smoky oak, cashew, cordite, oeuf, complex
Pa l a t e
Tarte aux pommes with hints of almond, biscuit & marzipan on a tight, textured
palate.
Gr u b M a t c h
Pate de fois gras, bonnet de douche
Ce l l a r i n g
Drink up!
V i n t a g e
Following a ‘champagne’ vintage like 2012, it was always going to be a hangover
year. Low winter and spring rainfall led to variable vine growth. Soil moisture
monitoring and irrigation proved to be vital in one of the driest seasons on record.
The dry conditions led to a poor fruit set, and a heat spell in early February brought
on vintage quickly. There was no time for hangovers now, as the excitement of
harvest kicked in. With most of the action over by the end of March, it was clear to
see that the dry season and low yields had produced some exuberant wines
reminiscent of 2008. 2013 was a fun and frantic vintage producing equally exciting
wines!
V i n e y a r d
Simon’s vineyard is near Woodside in the central Adelaide Hills - 400m above sea
level on clay with shale and quartz.
V i n i f i c a t i o n
The fruit is crushed as soon as it arrives at the winery and the free run juice drained
off immediately to tank and 100% new French oak hogsheads. Fermented by
indigenous yeast strains to dryness, and matured sur lie with weekly batonnage for
6 months. This wine was filtered and bottled in December 2013.
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