La Linea
La Linea hatched in Peter Leske's head in late 2006, soon after leaving Nepenthe. He had been Winemaker at the super-premium Adelaide Hills company since its foundation just over a decade earlier. Contemplating his next step, he found the aroma and taste of a dry, fine rosé made from Tempranillo grapes turning over and over in his mind. Imagining aromas and flavours that don't exist can be frustrating - but it's the winemaking equivalent of a melody forming in a songwriter's brain; a melody which won't go away until it's played.
Leske needed to play.
While interest in (and plantings of) Tempranillo are growing rapidly in Australia, it's still regarded here as a 'minor' or 'emerging' or 'non-mainstream' variety (depending on your preference for jargon!). Not so in its home in Spain. The Spanish grow it widely, and much like we do with Shiraz in this country, make it into a diverse range of styles, from crisp rosés produced for summer drinking, to robust, long-living reds.
Vinification
After hand picking on 24th March, we destemmed to an open fermenter, let it ferment without added yeast, hand plunged intermittently, pressed after a week on skins, racked to old French oak barrels, racked it to tank and blended soon after natural ‘malo’… then bottled it.
Appearance
Bright crimson.
Aroma
It’s riotously perfumed: maraschino cherry, cranberry, rhubarb and red currants.
Palate
It is medium bodied, young (obviously…!) and fresh, with those same fruits backed by soft tannins that offer an extra kick of length.
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