Vintage No.
25 at Paringa Vintage 2012 at Paringa Estate is owner winemaker Lindsay McCall s 25th Vintage It s a pretty significant event to reach such a milestone will give rise to some celebratory events as the year progresses...
I suspect our end of vintage dinner to be held at Paringa Restaurant will take on more importance this year with a reflection on what has occurred over the past 25 years said Lindsay.
The first plantings occurred at Paringa in 1985 with the first vintage made in 1988 in the garage.
A grand total of 1.12 tonnes of Cabernet Sauvignon 0.9 tonnes of Shiraz were processed.
This two tonnes of fruit converted into approximately 150 dozen, the excellent quality of this first vintage led to outstanding reviews by James Halliday so the Paringa success story had begun An important decision made in the early days of the business was to select the name Paringa which initially came from the name of the road that leads to the vineyard.
Later research into the name Paringa uncovered that it is an Aboriginal word meaning near water quite apt given the Peninsula is surrounded by water on 3 sides- Western Port Bay, Port Phillip Bay Bass Strait.
These nearby water bodies help create the Cool Maritime Climate of the Peninsula which is so important in growing of high quality cool climate grapes.
To celebrate this Aboriginal connection Lindsay has purchased a magnificent Aboriginal painting that hangs in the Restaurant depicts among other things a series of water holes that are so important to the survival of Aboriginal people in their dry central Australian environment.
For the first 10 years Lindsay continued to work full time as a school teacher.
He somehow managed to fully plant his 10 acre home vineyard by the mid 1990 s be producing around 1500 cases of wine.
The profit made from the sale of this wine was modest was immediately re-invested into the business to upgrade equipment, buy new oak barrels etc.
The prospect of Lindsay retiring from teaching at this point seemed a distant dream.
Vintage 2012 at Paringa Vintage began on 26th February and this very early start was similar to 2010 one of our best ever vintages .
A short hot spell in late February caused a flurry of picking activity from the lower lying vineyards across the Peninsula.
The first of the wines made show great promise with excellent colour, flavour tannins.
Cooler weather some rainfall has slowed the progress from the vineyards up around Red Hill where our 4 Paringa Vineyards are located.
By the 23rd of March we had picked over 50 of our fruit with the wines looking very good.
We expect to pick our remaining Chardonnay Pinot by the end of March- with the Shiraz likely to be picked mid April...
I have a feeling that vintage 2012 will produce some terrific wines said winemaker Lindsay McCall.
A Life Changing Opportunity...
In 1995 the then owner of Port Phillip Estate QC Jeff Sher approached Lindsay to contract make his wine which until that point had been made in the Yarra Valley.
The income made from this contract allowed Lindsay to finally retire from his school teaching after 21 years of service devote all his energy into developing the Paringa Estate Business.
In 1998 Lindsay made the decision to rebuild the winery develop the current restaurant cellar door complex.
The business now controls 55 acres of vineyard the winery production has increased to around 16,000 cases per annum.
Along with this increase in production since 2000 there has been a parallel rise in quality of Paringa s wines.
Strong wine show success through the 2000 s culminated in wine judge wine writer James Halliday awarding Paringa Estate his 2007 Australian Winery of the Year in his Australian Wine Companion chosen from some 2,500 wineries across Australia.
Lindsay is now proudly able to look back over his past 25 vintages with great pride.
Every vintage is different varying weather conditions add the individual stamp of each vintage.
2004 2010 would have to rate as two of the best vintages at Paringa.
The great thing about wine is that it allows you to go back through past vintages comparing the wines seeing how they develop age.
The life of a winemaker truly is a privileged one.
Paringa Estate Restaurant Autumn is upon us at Paringa Chef Julian Hills has been producing some phenomenal dishes to reflect the season.
His Salt Baked celeriac in its own garden Pictured marries exquisite technique with a perfectly balanced autumn palette of baby root vegetables, truffle mousse a soil made of quinoa, olives, mushrooms, hazelnuts walnuts.
Keep your eye out for fresh truffles featuring on the menu over the cooler months.
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