When one thinks of the great waterways of the world, the mind conjures up such rivers as the Nile, the Amazon, the Danube, the Mississippi… no one ever thinks of the mighty Boggy Creek. Yet what an achiever it is. Sure it may not be wide or rapid, but this brook, bourn, runnel, rill, whatever you want to call it, has made its own mighty mark on the wine industry, by slowly over geological time, splitting the lava flow that formed Whitlands in two. And there it flows, between the two towering viticultural goliaths of the Whitlands ridges, just admiring its own handiwork. However, that’s not all, this unassuming tributary of the King River has also sprung its own gold seam, with the beautiful Cavicchiolo Vineyard sitting either side of its banks. And it’s here that the Konpira Maru boys were lucky enough to secure a small parcel of Arneis.
The fruit was handpicked and destemmed into small stainless-steel fermenters on skins with high percentage of whole berries and very little crushing. The goal was to make a textural white that was still light on its feet. The fruit fermented without any additions on skins, and was pressed in five batches over the course of 4 weeks (on day 1, 7, 14, 21 and 28 to be exact), with all batches finishing fermentation in old french oak. Post ferment the wine was racked off the gross lees and then a further two rackings before being blended in tank prior to bottling. It was bottled without fining or filtration and with just a touch of sulfur at bottling.
