White Gate Wine Co
Barossa Valley, VIC
by Chad and Gee Connolly
Blessed with the superb vintage of 2021, Chad and Gee have shown they’re hitting their stride quickly with White Gate. In only their second vintage, the produce is distinctly theirs, clean and balanced, showing varietal typicity in soft, elegant wines. Certainly not region typical.
Drawing inspiration from Burgundy and Beaujolais, Chad and Gee, with help from good boy Zeus, aim to express the Barossa in a new light with energetic, approachable and balanced wines that break the big bold stigma. They manage a quant block of 90yr old Grenache and Semillon themselves along with a few rows of Syrah and Cabernet from a friend’s vineyard on the valley floor, all managed organically. Having not worked in a commercial winery they have an unbiased view to craft the wines they want to drink, using an intuitive, well-read mind and pure passion for great wine.
Experimenting with early harvests, plenty of whole-bunch and semi-cab-mac ferments, the wines are generous and exciting. The partial intracellular ferments with bunches produce lifted aromatics, juicy fruit and subtle tannins, with the power and structure of Barossa filling out the palate. Balance in the final wines stems from the moment the fruit is picked, achieving perfect fruit concentration at lower beaume retains bright natural acidity that shows in the glass.
The Beaujolais inspiration really shows here in the Grenache, it’s light on its feet, aromatic and juicy, with deep flavour concentration and length showing from the old vines.
As always these are handmade from start to finish, all wines are basket pressed, with no fining or filtering and small amounts of sulphur only at bottling.
2021 White Blend (Riesling/Semillon)
Dry grown Riesling of 30-35 years and 90 year old Semillon both from blocks managed organically by Chad and Gee. Fermented separately, destemmed Semillon on skins for 2 days and pressed to stainless to continue slow ferment at low temp, Riesling whole-bunch basket pressed and given the same treatment. Blended 50/50 before bottling.
2021 Petite Sirah
Fruit is sourced from a friends vineyard in the Rifle Range region. Whole-bunch carbonic ferment for 8 days before being gently foot stomped and left for another 3 days to build body and subtle tannin. 5 months in neutral french oak and bottled early.
Words from Chad.
2021 Old Vine Grenache
A 90-year old planting West of Nuriootpa managed by us. This small vineyard consists of gorgeous character, with stunning gnarly vines. Fermented 70% wholebunch, with the remainder whole berry. Very minimal punchdowns, and basket pressed to two neutral French oak puncheons for 7 months. This wine is soft, structured, light on it's feet with great depth of flavour. It truly showcases the diversity of Barossa Grenache.
2021 Syrah
21 Syrah continues our journey into boundary pushing pick times and whole cluster ferment. This wine consists of two picks, one at 12.5Be and one at 13.8Be, giving us a finished alcohol of 13.4%. We’ve treated both ferments separate, and both at around 60% whole bunch, with the remainder whole berry. Soft touches and minimal mucking around in the winery, 7 months in neutral french oak. A supple, expressional Barossa Syrah with structure that grows per glass.
2021 Cabernet Sauvignon
Honing in on our more subtle approach of a Barossa Valley Cabernet, we’ve dropped the Syrah off this vintage and love how exciting it looks. Harvested at 13.0Be and hand de-stemmed for a whole berry fermentation, with 6 months in neutral French oak.
This wine looks fresh, energetic and lively. Just a few hand punch downs daily, keeping the touches soft and the maceration minimal.