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letuffeau.com
(Link)
UPCOMING EVENTS
“There is no wine I would rather be drinking right now.”
— Nick, at Ling Nan (Saturday 29/08, 11.49pm)
Saturday 05/09
2.00-4.00pm
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A Very Special Tasting
with
Bridget Mac
Werkstatt
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Launching the Limited Print Run
of
N O I R
on labour, love and loss.
— — —
Foreign Friends
Beechworth
“Every time we have a white wine from Leila Davis and her tightly knit winemaking collective Foreign Friends, it sells out immediately. This is not, dear Readers, an exhortation for you to enact the same again.
Rather, I would like to illuminate that whatever vinous magic takes place, and indeed increasingly takes place, renders the wines utterly ‘delicious.’ Dear Readers, that is the technical term. Delicious.
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The Black Springs site has, in its relatively brief history, seen a number of bottlings emerge from its Chardonnay plantings; Traviarti, Sentio, and Foreign Friends. The site is on the Beechworth-Wangaratta Road, slightly north-west of Giaconda, Savaterre, Castagna, and Domenica; for all intents and purposes this is a Grand Cru strip of land. The soil is largely fine granitic sand, with massive laminated blocks of the base rock littered throughout the hills.
Really, could one ask for anything more? Well, careful winemaking certainly. Leila is fastidious in the cellar. The winemaking details are simple, which belie the magic (again, that word) that takes place here; hand-picked fruit, basket pressed to barrel, an elevage of 18 months in barrel of which 25% was new, with only light battonnage (lees stirring). In short, the fruit is key here.
I seem to constantly insist that you, dear Readers, abandon purchasing received names; not to steer you away from Giaconda or Savaterre or Sorrenberg, which are fabulous wines, but rather to surrender these to the market which has ensured that prices have run away from serious wine drinkers. The next generation is presently emerging, occupying the same position that Rick Kinzbrunner or Keppel Smith once occupied themselves.
Savaterre is now poured on a notable airline. Foreign Friends is not. I certainly know that I would rather not compete with the parvenu when paying for, and enjoying, fine wine.”
— David
~ please note : discounts are automatically applied at checkout ~
Foreign Friends 2025 Beechworth Chardonnay ‘Black Springs’
limited
(Shelf Price: $92.00)
Offer: $85.00
“I feel I should stress that this is a wine of utter confidence; every point in this wine, which is so utterly seamless as to render any discussion of ‘points’ moot, is stamped with triumph. It is a triumph of terroir, vintage, and yield; it is a triumph of controlled winemaking; it is a triumph of the senses.
On first pour, the 2025 Chardonnay ‘Black Springs’ from Foreign Friends carries echoes of Meursault. Aeration focuses the wine’s terroir expression, revealing granitic nuances, a hallmark of fine Beechworth Chardonnay. There is an interplay of yellow, pink, and green citrus curds which serves as an entr'acte to aromas of apricot, ripe pear, and yellow peach. Wreathing around these characteristics are notions of thyme, tarragon, apricot kernel, and blanched almond; these provide ample complexity enough though a streak of mineral salts adds further intrigue. The palate is fulsome and endowed with ample mass and density, though never feels weighty; there is, as with great Meursault from Perrieres Dessous, a deeply buried faultline of acidity that runs beneath everything. The finish is marked by piquant acidity and feathery phenolics, which emerge in the same breathtakingly seamless and silken fashion as the initial entry of the wine. Almond meal and stone fruit pit feel very much at the
youthful core of flavours here, with ripe yellow nectarine, peach, and thyme in the next layer; further out some toasted bran, vanilla pod and white florals, and cooked peach; then interplay between these elements, a recapitulation if you will, on the close. The fruit maintains excellent delineation it nears pixelation, as if sliced rather than crushed. Very good, excellent even. Most importantly: delicious.”
— David
Order here
(Link)
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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
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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.