letuffeau.com
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Alessandro Stefani
“This will be a small note, by way of introduction.
I feel my enthusiasm for the wines is better communicated through my notes to each cuvee below.
2023 was a shocking vintage in Victoria; unpredictable, cold, wet. Very few wines are fine, fewer still leave deep impressions. Alessandro has worked magic and turned out not just excellent renditions of now known wines to follow-up his inaugural 2022 releases but has potentially turned out some wines of the vintage, wines that to my mind transcend the limitations of the growing season.
Charming, strikingly beautiful, pellucid.
These words appear regularly in my notes; moreover there is a real quality of ‘drinkability’ to these wines in this vintage, a quality perhaps absent from the more structurally imposing and firm 2022s.
I have found, at serious dinners with old Bordeaux and old Australian wines, that the warm and generous vintages which the critics heap praise on often turn out flabby or monolithic wines lacking in joie de vivre. Personally, the colder or weird years (2013, 2006, and 2002 in Bordeaux; 1997, in particular, in Victoria) turn out wines that I enjoy. I see no reason than to assume the same here.
These are special wines. They come with the highest personal recommendation.”
— David
I
Alessandro Stefani 2023 Yarra Valley Trebbiano+ ‘Sete’
(Shelf Price: $39.00)
Offer: $33.00
“A new wine in the fold. 60% Trebbiano (Ugni Blanc) and 40% Pinot Blanc.
This is simply a delicious white wine. On Thursday night, when we launched the 2023s, it was the best seller. Even in the middle of winter it refreshes. It can barely stay in the glass long enough for me to write this note.
There is an entr’acte of initial reduction which passes to reveal aromas that are possessed of a haunting nostalgic quality that I find difficult to describe. Nuances, remembered, of almond blossom on a warm afternoon draws back like a curtain to reveal pear drops, heirloom apples, orchard fruits; slight minerality. My notes tend cryptic here with the palate description featuring a gnostic circle glyph. Consider that hieratic symbol my note to mouthfeel and the ‘completeness’ of this wine. Further stone fruit, never too yellow and with kernel touches, green herbs; a fine ‘slice’ of acidity, as if cutting fresh peaches. There are some spiced elements on the close that are not oak derived, akin to the complex brown spice notes developed by certain ripe pears. I cannot think of a more special ‘cheap’ white wine.”
— David
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II
Alessandro Stefani 2023 Yarra Valley Sangiovese ‘La Vignola’
(Shelf Price: $39.00)
Offer: $33.00
“The 2023 Sangiovese ‘La Vignola’ has an irrepressible quality to its aromatics: candied petals, bright red fruits, cracked black pepper all contend for attention as they burst from the glass. There is something so charming, so playful at work in this wine. Serious attention turned to it: fennocchio salami, a cured and sweet ‘fat’ nuances interplay with dried fennel seeds, fresh bay, and hints of leather. The palate carries through this secondary seriousness, finishing with gently gripping tannins and a soft fanning out. Black pepper, hung game, dark plums all precede elements akin undergrowth, maybe more personally: dark, wet tree-bark. Simply calls for: pizza, or lamb cutlets; potentially even liver with fava beans.
This is always a wild, untamed wine that avoids faults: I can assure you readers there is no Brettanomyces present in this wine.”
— David
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III
Alessandro Stefani 2023 Yarra Valley Pinot Noir ‘La Veduta’
(Shelf Price: $59.00)
Offer: $49.00
“Walking this vineyard, with Melbourne in the distance, I have quipped to a blushing Alessandro that this is the ‘Cazetiers’ of the Yarra Valley.
Pouring mid-ruby with some garnet, the 2023 Pinot Noir ‘La Veduta’ takes some aeration to find its feet. Peonies, dried orange rind, soil tones mingle at the edge of the parquetry while centre stage is taken by rhubarb, rose petals, and red cherries. There is a cooling, Burgundian quality to the palate. Great sapidity and firm, limestone-esque tannins. Red fruits and orange rind, amaro herbs, from a deeper vantage point violets all present with great precision across mineral and balsam nuances. The finish has more seriousness in its tannin profile and repeated red fruit, dried peel notes than most YV Pinot Noirs in ‘good’ vintages.”
— David
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IV
Alessandro Stefani 2023 Yarra Valley Sangiovese ‘Boccolo’
(Shelf Price: $89.00)
Offer: $75.00
“The 2023 rendition of the Yarra Valley Sangiovese ‘Boccolo’ retains its position as Australia’s finest Sangiovese. There is no competition, especially in this vintage. It is a kindred fellow to Pian dell’Orino.
Pouring the very definition of ruby in the glass, the 2023 Sangiovese ‘Boccolo’ presents itself as if a metaphysical conceit. Parodos: hints of terracotta, cherry, sage, and balsam. Ode: rose petals and orange rind, white tea, dried ginger and fresh red dates, Cuban cigars (especially Partagas), cedar, and wild herbs. Exodos: dried roses, strawberries, cloves; mint. Proceeding the altar of the palate; the texture is pillowy with satin sheets of tannin. As in 2022 this Sangiovese possesses a linear array of flavours allied to a soaring verticality of presence. Red and tending blue fruits sliced at first then with second sip crushed over limestone, potent mineral ores, and a mixture of fresh, dried, and candied peels that delight. More intellectual elements present themselves along this Appian Way; guidestones in the form of tobacco and cloves, cedar trees on warm afternoons, and smoky abstracts hinting at black cardamom and dagad phool, the places where porcini grow. This wine elevates and
exults Sangiovese.
This rare wine feels both complete and nascent; there are further lines yet unwritten. Special.
— David
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V
Alessandro Stefani 2023 Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Supera’
(Shelf Price: $65.00)
Offer: $55.00
“Well, here we are then. A wine with which I have played a small part. I must stress very small; I merely assisted Alessandro to make a barrel selection. Sampling and re-sampling, blending and sampling, all these barrels of Yarra Valley Cabernet. Believe me it was an arduous afternoon.
Still acclimatising to bottle, the Stefani 2023 Yarra Valley Cabernet ‘Supera’ is an alluring full ruby in the glass, with violet highlights. There is tremendous intensity here; dark floral notes beckon not to contemplation but to sensual entrapment. In each olfactory direction there are new pleasures: black cherries and blood plums, maduro cigar wrapper, loam reveal themselves pli selon pli all the while distracting the beholder from the discreet trimming of tarragon and incense nuances that bring freshness and brio. While still coming together the palate presents classically Cabernet Sauvignon; austerity and plushness make for good bedfellows in this case. Blood orange, together with mint and sage, wraps helix-like around sweet red cherry and crushed blackberry. Grayscale shading, which time slumbering in a cellar will colour, comes in the form of spice and mineral nuances that repeat on the elegant finish.
Effusive? Maybe. Deserving? Certainly. I am put in mind of several bottles I enjoyed recently of 2017 Chateau Durfort-Vivens (Margaux, 2eme Cru); a much maligned year but: bon vin. Smitten.”
— David
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If you would like any of the above, would like to come by for a private appointment, or just have some questions — please let us know.