2016 Punt Road Gamay

Punt Road

Australia / Yarra Valley / Punt Road

The Punt Road team’s inaugural Gamay release, made for immediate and unbridled drinking pleasure. It’s a single-block wine from the Napoleone vineyard - the maiden crop from vines grafted over from Viognier back in 2014. The parcel features two clones, 222 and BGW19, planted on a north-facing slope of alluvial clay-loam soil. Yields were 4 tonnes per hectare.
Winemaking was very basic. One ferment was 100% destemmed, with a three-day cold soak. The other ferment was 100% whole bunch-fermented, with plenty of carbonic maceration going on over 10 days.
The ferments were pressed together, then racked to old hogsheads. The wine spent six months on lees in oak. It was racked once to tank, then racked once more to the bottling tank. No fining, no filtration.
On the nose, this shows redskins, orange peel, angelica root and juniper berries. Then on the palate there’s cherry and char, some graphite and iron, a bloody note - but oddly there’s prettiness running right through it, too.

October, 2016

Ben Thomas

The Weekly Review

92 points

Made with the grape found in Beaujolais, this gamay is a floral, perfumed delight that’s filled with cherries, strawberries and spice. There’s energy and finesse, the finest of tannins and a floral finish, all of which combine to make this a joy to drink.

October, 2016

Gary Walsh

The Wine Front

90 points

Smells like Gamay. Tastes like Gamay. It’s fresh, lightly floral and spicy, perky red fruits and red cherry, some meat and herbs, fine dusting of tannin, clean and pretty to close. Lovely to drink. Job’s a good’un. Recommended.

Standard Bottle Out of Stock

About Punt Road

Tim Shand heads a dynamic, progressive young winemaking team at this James Halliday five star-rated winery. Punt Road is a standard-bearer for wines of character, drinkability and a clear, proud Yarra Valley stamp. It has history on its side and cards stacked in its favour for a very bright future. The property was founded on site of the St. Huberts Vineyard planted in the 1860s by Paul and Hubert de Castella - some of the first vines in the Yarra Valley and one of the cornerstones of Australian fine-wine tradition. Punt Road owners the Napoleone family took advantage of a tremendous head start when they planted vineyards here in the 1980s. All these years later, Tim and the team bring restless perfectionism to this intimately understood site and its mature vines. The Punt Road wines have never been better.

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.