2019 Airlie Bank Franc

Airlie Bank

Australia / Yarra Valley / Airlie Bank

Harvested from the Napoleone vineyard, on a block planted in 2001. The vines are finding good balance now, with the crop coming down and the canopy less vigorous.
2019 Airlie Bank Franc is brighter and fruitier than the 2018. Less deep and structural, and a return to the heady herbal aromas of the 2017. This wine is built on seven one-tonne 100% whole-bunch ferments, completely sealed and left to do their thing for 14 days. We did a couple of foot stomps towards the end of ferment to extract some colour, but otherwise this was a very good crack at carbonic maceration. The wine is pressed to ferment out in tank, then racked to old hogsheads, where it remained (unsulphured) for eight months. That's longer than usual, in an attempt to build the presence of the wine, and take the edge off any confected characters that come with cab mac.
Racked out in November 2019, no fining, lightly filtered and 40ppm of SO2 the night before bottling (mid-December 2019). - Tim Shand, Punt Road

May, 2020

Campbell Mattinson

The Wine Front

91 points

Nicely packaged, made, grown and priced. Excellent wine to drink. Essentially it’s fresh and fruit-driven but it’s flecked with such an assorted of flavours. Interest, it has plenty. Briar bush, dust, hay, red licorice and fragrant herbs. The latter are in fine voice, it has to be said. It almost tastes/smells stalky but the fresh buoyancy of the fruit prevails. Tonic-like finish, as a positive. Makes you want to keep going back for more.

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About Airlie Bank

Airlie Bank dares to treat drinkers with respect by delivering wines that are delicious and true - as well as remarkably good value. Tim Shand and the team enjoy freedom to push boundaries. Their small-batch ethos has led to a great deal of creativity and ever-decreasing doses of sulphur. Nothing is off the cards when they sniff an opportunity to make a more compelling wine, as demonstrated by its 100% whole bunch Cab Franc and goon-bag fermented Sauvignon Blanc. Pure drinking pleasure is the one-point manifesto of Airlie Bank, and the thirsty take-up across the board shows that they're hitting the mark.

About

Tim came to the Yarra Valley with vintages under his belt at Domaine Dujac in Burgundy and Château Margaux in Bordeaux, as well as stints in Chianti, Oregon and Chile. Since then he had a hand in some of the region’s headline-grabbing wines of recent times during his tenure at Giant Steps before taking the helm at Punt Road in 2014. Tim and the team are making most of the freedom to push boundaries while making the most of the excellent fruit the Yarra Valley gives rise to.