Tasting Notes for Kalleske Plenarius Viognier 2021 from the Winery

The 2021 Plenarius is copper-gold in colour with brilliant amber edges.
Aromatically it is lifted, captivating and favourably perplexing.  There’s tinned apricot, marmalade, jasmine perfume as well as candied ginger and hints of lemongrass.
The aroma implies a sweet wine awaits, but the first sip jolts a clean dryness.  An unctuous texture then develops giving a yin-yang of dry but pseudo-sweetness with ripe tropical fruits evident.  This wine is rustic but simultaneously polished; grippy skin phenolics are offset beautifully by a glycerol richness and a fine natural acid line.  Dynamic and engaging, it evolves with a multitude of flavours invariably bustling in and out.  A long lengthy finish completes this charismatic Viognier with its intriguing mix of aromas, flavours and textures. 

Recommended Drinking: Within 12-18 months from release.

Growing Season

Vintage 2021 was an exemplary year with fine wines and good yields.  Growing season rainfall was marginally below average and temperatures were mild ensuring vine canopies remained healthy.  Vintage weather was absolutely perfect throughout, with dry mild-warm days and cool nights ensuring even and steady ripening across all varieties.  There is strong colour and flavour across all the reds along with excellent structure and balance whilst the whites are bright, fresh and elegant.     

Vineyard

Plenarius is from a single vineyard of Viognier on the Kalleske property at Moppa.  The vines are low yielding and soil is shallow sand with clay subsoil.

Winemaking

The grapes were harvested in the cool of the night on February 18th.  They were then destemmed to an open top fermenter.  It was treated like a red wine with hand pump-overs morning and night to circulate the fermenting juice through the skins extracting flavour and subtle tannin/phenolics.  The must was entirely wild yeast fermented with absolutely no additions.  The wine was on skins for 8 days with ferment temperatures ranging from 20 to 24 degrees Celsius.  At dryness the must was drained and the wine was filled to seasoned French oak hogsheads.  It underwent natural malolactic fermentation in barrel and was matured for 11 months on lees prior to racking for bottling with zero additions, bottling as 100% grapes.

 

 

 

 

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(SKU: KA_PLN_21)