Heretic Wines
heretic - ˈhɛrɪtɪk'
noun
1. A person believing in or practising religious heresy.
synonyms: dissident, dissenter, nonconformist, unorthodox thinker, heterodox thinker, apostate, freethinker, iconoclast, schismatic, renegade
2. A person holding an opinion at odds with what is generally accepted.
2018 Young Gun of Wine: Top 50 Finalist
Dan Stocker began his vinous endeavours studying in Adelaide and then as winemaker in the Yarra Valley at Giant Steps before shortly after moving towards a more commercial way of winemaking back home with his wife Harrie & their family in Margret River.
After a short sabbatical, he reignited his passion towards growing sustainably, translating vineyard to bottle with minimal intervention. The romantic notion of early mornings, grubby hands and riding off into the sunset upon his rusty steed thrust the Stocker's back toward agriculture, to then find themselves back full 360° within viticulture and winemaking.
In terms of winemaking, the only thing that is added to either wine is small amounts of SO2 at bottling. All indigenous yeast, no new oak, minimal lees stirring and gentle extractions. Neither wine is fined, corrected, stabilised or filtered.
"...I wanted to better understand how farming translates into a finished product, be it fruit, vegetables or, in this case, wine. I wanted to challenge the paradigms I built for myself surrounding wine - how it's grown, how it's made, how it's distributed and consumed. I'm comfortable with the fact that I may not get the answers I want, or that I may not get the answers at all. The wines themselves are an end point, I'm much more interested in how we get there."
“The project, as a whole, is basically me asking ‘why’ a lot, and challenging my own biases and preconceptions on wine. In some cases I’m doing a complete 180° on the pathways I followed previously in my winemaking career. This is in no way denouncing the wineries I’ve worked at, or the wines I’ve been involved in (I would happily stand behind just about all of them). It’s just me acknowledging that there is a side of winemaking that I haven’t really explored, and that’s what I’m keen to do.”
2017 Heretic White - 100% Savagnin
1458 bottles produced
2.8T/acre
**LIMITED STOCK ALLOCATED TO ACT & NSW**
Savagnin is handpicked from 12 year old vines in the Fosters Vineyard in Margaret River at 125m elevation on sand over clay base soils. Seeing success from their first vintage from what is currently a conventionally managed vineyard, discussions have now been confirmed to move towards organics with the next growing season.
Harvested early to retain freshness, Savagnin is left to macerate on skins for 2-4 hours before being wholebunch pressed to 4 year old French barriques to complete wild primary fermentation and indigenous malolactic fermentation over a period of 2-7 weeks with minimal battonage towards the end of ferment to build texture and complexity of flavour but retain purity.
The resulting wine remains on lees for 8 months before being racked to bottle without fining or filtration and minimal additions of sulphur.
120ppm total SO2
2017 Heretic Red - 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Grenache, 9% Savagnin
1032 bottles produced
2.1T/acre
17 year old vines elevated at 80m on sand over clay base soils, the Stocker's manage this blend themselves at Arimia Estate in the often favoured northern sub-region of Margaret River, Wilyabrup. Organically farmed with no synthetic herbicides, fungicides and insecticides and currently in the process of certification through ACO. The farming is focused on sustainability and growing the best produce possible.
Handpicked and all destemmed into a 1 tonne open top fermenter, the fruit is left to macerate on skins for 11 days with a minimal extraction seeing punch downs occurring just once daily. The still fermenting juice is pressed away from skins to complete wild primary and wild secondary fermentations in 4 year old French barriques.
The resulting wine remains on lees for 8 months before being racked to bottle without fining or filtration and minimal additions of sulphur.
90ppm total SO2