Clay Pot Wines, The Story Continues

In his previous life a senior winemaker for Treasury Wine Estates, Glenn James was fairly hemmed in to a conservative style of winemaking. After leaving TWS, Glenn had a real desire to explore alternative more tradition forms of winemaking, and it just so happened that he spent the past few years walking by a series of old, unused Amphorae daily on the Barossa TWE winery.
After persuading them to 'loan' him an Amphora, James got some fruit form the Chalmers Vineyard in Heathcote, and the story of Clay-Pot Wines began, with the 2011 Pandora's Amphora.

 

 

 

Fast-forward to 2018, and Clay-Pot wines has grown and evolved from those initial experimental days. Glenn in now head-winemaking at Winemaking Tasmania, and in partnership with his wife; the energiser bunny otherwise known as Jo Marsh from Billy Button, they have crafted a range of Amphora wines from the Alpine Valleys in Vic, and Tasmania. Extended time on skins, no additions bar sulphur (to avoid oxidisation), these wines hark back to the winemaking of ancient times.

                  

 The Wines

2015 Pandora's Amphora, Fiano, Vermentino, Moscato Giallo; Alpine Valley Vic

Vermentino, Fiano and Moscato Giallo from three vineyards of the Alpine Valleys were hand harvested on the same day and fermented togther in a single terracotta amphora. 120 Days on skins and basket pressed. View Wine

 

2016 Taurian Friulano; Tamar Valley Tas

 

Tasmania's only patch of Friulano of only six rows from Peter Taurian's picturesque vineyard overlooking the Tamar River.

'In 1944 Peter Taurian made his first wine in his homeland, Friuli. Seventy two years later he harvested the first Friulano from his Tamar valley vineyard. man and wine have taken root in their new land.' View Wine

 

2016 Pyrra Saperavi; Alpine Valleys Vic

A red-skinned, and red-flesh grape, This wine is an ode to the traditional winemaking of Georgia, where the indigenous Saperavi grapes are vinified in Queveri (pointy amphorae, buried in the ground). The fruit is from the Smith Vineyard in the Alpine Valleys and was hand harvested and fermented in a single Amphora and kept on it's skins for 200 days.  After Basket pressing the wine was matured in old oak prior to bottling. View Wine