Our Wine Range

The Orpens learnt a lot during the past year mostly that although growing great grapes and making wine is challenging but fun, marketing is not for sissies. So many people have helped us grow grapes and make wine and although generally the people who taste the wine love it, the people who we would like to sell it all say the same thing; we have to brand it and that takes time. So we have a quantity of good wine and now we need people to taste it. Luckily it won’t go ‘off’ in a hurry in fact the opposite is true, so the slower we sell the better it gets, and we are again learning new skills. If you like wine and visiting new places please come and see for yourselves. As we are a two man show you need to phone first but we would love to show you what we do.

Shiraz 2001

The 2001 is blended with 10% Cabernet Sauvignon to give it some extra depth.

The big, bold smoky berry flavours of this wine are backed up by charming redcurrant and leathery notes. Cigar-box lingers on the nose, with elegant, aromatic hints of plums, pepper and blackberry.

The wine spent 12-14 months in American and French barrels.

Shiraz 2002

The 2002 is a very rich, fruity wine that has a little more gusto than the 2001.

A spicy, layered wine, the 2002 demonstrates the berry and plum flavours of its predecessor and offers smoky, tobacco accents. More American and French oak offer similar complexity to the 2001, but more new wood added a richness and roundness that set it apart.

Unfortunately we never did release the 2002 Shiraz...

Shiraz 2003

The 2003 Shiraz spent a total of 12 months in wood – 30% American and 70% French – 30% of which was new. The wine is unfiltered, hand-bottled and hand-labelled by the family and friends.

Only 30 tonnes are harvested per year, giving us around sixty barrels to work with – translating into 1500-1800 cases annually. The 2003 has just been awarded a bronze medal at the Fairbairn Trophy Wine Show.

The '03 exhibits ripe and soft fruit, and is more accessible now than '02 , with an elegant balance between wood and fruit. Ruby black, with coffee, cherries and plums. Firm tannins and a charming finish.

Shiraz 2004

Platter **** stars, “Smokey, gun flint notes…sumptuous raspberry marzipan notes; very ripe though big alcohol not dominating, rich, finely textured with lovely concentration.”

Shiraz 2005

Platter **** stars, Style maintained, finely textured black cherry & dark choc baked by elegant tannins, adding texture and subtle grip, shows sumptuous ripeness & lovely concentration.

Pete Orpen Flight 2005

Platter **** stars, This wine of 76% Shiraz and 24% Cabernet Sauvignon was blended by Pete Orpen using less new wood which gives a softer rounder feel in the mouth without losing the balanced structure of the 100% shiraz. Bouquet of spice, pepper and raspberry on the nose, full bodied and ripe in the mouth. Refined and classy, sumptuous fruit held in check by Cab’s tannins & good oak (mainly Fr, 15%new).

2006: Harvest 2005, frenetic elsewhere, here was calm and controlled, and fermentation took place with quiet success. Quietly incubating in barrel is their maiden Cab, and a barrel of Pete’s maiden PORT.

2007: This small-scale family winery has added several new strings to its bow: a Reserve Shiraz, a Cab-Shiraz blend and an assistant winemaker (daughter Pippa). Harvest 2006 saw stringent measures to guarantee quality: severe crop thinning (halving production), and hastily summoned friends helped in the cellar when power failures hit mid harvest. Mother (Jane) and daughter collaborated on their first three open-top barrels of Ladies’ Reserve, under the watchful but amused eye’ of winemaker/husband/dad Pete.

2008: The sad passing of winemaker father, Pete, sees daughter Pippa ably continuing the good work in vineyard and cellar. Passionate about her new career (graphic design and photography were her first love). She gladly ploughs sows and prunes before becoming creative in the winery. The Pete Orpen Flight carries her label design.