Joshua Cooper's 2025 Releases - "Mark my words: the collectable bottles of the future."

letuffeau.com (Link) “My winemaking is fairly classic, in the Old World sense.” — Joshua Cooper, Winemaker J. B. & S. A. K. Cooper Wines Central Victoria — “I have written many times, dear Readers, of a winemaking firmament in which I see youthfully bright stars illuminating a night sky where the previous generation makes out only an inky blackness in their predictions of doom for the industry. Alessandro Stefani, Bridget Mac, Cooper Davis-Draper, Callum Powell, George McCullough, et al, all have their own constellations. There is a Pole Star, though, by which many may orient themselves: Joshua Cooper. I count Josh Cooper as a good friend. I state such in full disclosure. However, I was familiar with his wines long before I was with him personally. I still take to them as I would the wines from the names above. Josh has inspired younger winemakers to take a classical approach, galvanised a region crossing several GIs, and has been the revitalising proponent for many once great and now neglected vineyards. To name only a few: Flynn & Williams, Romsey Vineyards (known as ‘Cope-Williams’), The Old Port Tree Vineyard (known as ‘Old Port Righ’), and of course the Lafite of Central Victoria, Stuart Anderson’s block of old vines at Balgownie Estate. It is through his work that these vines, and their fruit, are known again. His wines, I should add, are no mere imitation of what was made in the past; they are vibrant, living expressions of their terroir. The 2025 vintage bears all the hallmarks of the sites with which he currently works matched to a deeply fruited, solar generosity. I think of the terroirs; the granitic sand soils of Dash Farms, the red basalt soils of Doug’s Vineyard, and the alluvial soils of the Balgownie Estate site at Maiden Gully, rich in shale, quartz, and ironstone. These all express themselves across the bottlings. Digression: earlier this week I took my staff out for dinner following a strategic planning meeting. One of the wines we drank with our meal was a Balgownie Estate 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon, which was made by Stuart Anderson. The wine was simply extraordinary, cool toned and mineral and gaining fruit, intensity, and weight by the hour. Spellbinding. Naturally, old Balgownie Estate wines are among great vinous treasures of Australia. Forget the flashy names that entice others. As I have said countless times about the wines of the Firmament above, and not merely in sales exhortation: buy these wines and cellar them. Josh Cooper’s wines are the collectable bottles of the future. Mark my words.” — David — ~ please note : discounts are automatically applied at the digital check-out! ~ — The White I Joshua Cooper 2025 Central Victoria Chardonnay 'Dash Farms' (Shelf Price: $89.00) Offer: $75.00 “A vibrant yellow gold streaked by green in the glass, the 2025 Dash Farms Chardonnay from Joshua Cooper unwinds with nascent elements of lemon curd, frangipane flower, sweetly ripe pineapple, and creme de patisserie all vying for attention. There is real complexity here in the form of crushed citrus leaf, thyme oil, and almond paste which trim the central, fruit-led aromas and occasionally make inroads to the beholders focal point. The palate is silken on entry, creamily textured in the middle, with fine almost filigreed phenolic presence following that eases into a long and broad finish. Lemon balm and woody herbs make up the central channel from which tributaries of apricot, bosc pear, kernel, and pastry run. The finish remains closed; charmingly reticent with a hint of the aloof, near steeliness, that is most welcome in a solar vintage, though this runs over a rich carpet of cooked apricot and almond paste. Time will be most favourable. Fine.” — David & “Pale with a green edge, Dash Farm’s offers restrained aromas of crushed rock, lemon and grapefruit rind, just ripe nectarine and spice. Flavours carry through to a dense and powerful palate with powdery phenolics, flinty, savoury complexity and a fine acid line, finishing creamy and long. The best vintage of this cuvee yet.” — Joshua Cooper, Winemaker Order here (Link) The Reds II Joshua Cooper 2025 Macedon Ranges Pinot Noir 'Doug's Vineyard' (Shelf Price: $89.00) Offer: $75.00 “Poised precisely between ruby and garnet, with the barest tinting of violet, the 2025 Pinot Noir from 'Doug's Vineyard' by Joshua Cooper needs vigorous aeration to settle into its groove. A faint pall of reduction and oak dissipates, as cloud from a valley when banished by the sun, to reveal well defined aromas of rose bush sous bois, damson, Morello cherry, cooked rhubarb, and an inkling of baking spice. These aromatic profiles seem to fall into, and interchange between, several channels: the spicy, almost amaro-esque notes; the deep and sweetly fruited; and the earthy, savoury elements. Time will cohere. Candied Raspberry and a dash of white pepper add nuance. The palate is sateen, undercut by a long and fine line of acidity that runs straight down the centre of the tongue; the finish fans out slightly with surprisingly feathery tannins. The wine here executes a marvellous prestidigitation: one expects a daunting, monstrous structure to emerge and yet it never does, and instead it finishes with great subtlety. A palate of harmoniously balanced poles, the three corners above find their analogues of aroma expressed in flavours. Spicy and tart red cherry, sage, rhubarb, trimmed in nutmeg and cassia; ripe raspberry, coulis of same, and hints of red plum; then running beneath all this is a sweetly loamy base. I am surprised, as it is Australian Pinot Noir. Certainly the best iteration of this vineyard I have yet seen. Very fine.” — David & “Deep, inky garnet. This vintage shows incredibly depth and vibrancy, with lavender, pen ink, violet and creamy cassis fruit filling the nose and a savoury, wild herb and graphite complexity in the background. Medium to full bodied, but fully flavoured and packed with fine fruit tannin, with just a seasoning of oak. Again, creamy cassis, red cherry and raspberry flood the mouth, with graphite and subtle crushed ivy lend intrigue, finishing powdery and dry. Our favourite vintage yet from this site.” — Joshua Cooper, Winemaker Order here (Link) III “The Lafite of Central Victoria’ Joshua Cooper 2025 Bendigo Cabernet Sauvignon ‘Balgownie Old Vines’ (Shelf Price: $109.00) Offer: $95.00 “Aeration quickly focuses Joshua Cooper's 2025 rendition of Cabernet Sauvignon from the small remaining parcel of old vines that Stuart Anderson planted at Balgownie in 1969/70. The vineyard's unique terroir is on fulsomely ripe display in this solar vintage with a deep, near impenetrable aromatic wall of black cherry interwoven with fresh marjoram and oregano. There is ample complexity even if the wine is years off showing its best, with Nori seaweed, wet ironstone, Nicaraguan Maduro tobacco, blood orange, and spice box nuances in supporting roles. The palate is fresh, still youthfully vibrant with an immense and latently deep fruit presence. The tannins alone require their own sentence. The great hallmark of this site, along with its telltale aromas of cherry, oregano/marjoram, and ironstone/ferruginous shale, is its tannic profile. Unique among Victorian Cabernets, there is a wonderful sensation of layering, with fine strata further adding to the impression of depth. Sage, blood orange, red and black (never sour, though) cherries, and shale lead the flavour array with pennants of oregano, dried seaweed, and crushed blackberry fluttering along the edges as the parade tapers off. An estuarine saltiness blends with wet shale and fresh orange rind to inflect the close. Sweet fruit and black Yunnan tea linger. Only just shaded by the 2024. Nonetheless, exceptional. A fitting schwanengesang to this vineyard from its revitalising proponent.” — David & “Deep, inky garnet. A wine which immediately makes one sit up and focus. Refined and complex with graphite, sweet cassis, cedar spice, violet and rose, air reveals infinite nuance and detail and a briny, nori like complexity. The palate is flooded with wave upon wave of dark Cabernet fruit, braced by a strict but not overbearing tannic structure and refreshing acid, finishing with sweet violet and cassis, and a wave of perfume. The most refined of the Cabernet cuvees, but also the most concentrated and finally balanced. The best vintage yet for us from this wonderful site and vintage and a wine that displays my most prized characteristics - effortless complexity and power without weight.” — Joshua Cooper, Winemaker Order here (Link) … Please join us for a drink soon. Reservations preferred. Bookings and after-6.00pm access: (03) 9419 3867 Tue. 11.00 am–6.00 pm Wed.–Sat. 11.00 am–11.00 pm — 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.