Wildflower Distinctly Perceived 2022 will be available online and for tasting and take-away/collection at our cellar door from 12pm (AEST) on Friday 3 March 2023.
Distinctly Perceived is a barrel aged ale made with white wine grape pomace. The name makes reference to René Descartes' philosophies on optics and colour. The 2022 cuvee is a blend of golden mixed culture ales aged on Riesling and Viognier pomace from our good friends Ravensworth Wines in Murrumbateman, NSW. Previous cuvees have been extremely well received beers marrying the tannins and fruit character of direct press white wine with the acid and texture of our barrel aged beer.
Topher's production notes
Good beer, shit photo... apologies on the picture actually... we had some fresh yellow floors put in for a new project and I thought the yellows would work but now I'm looking at it and not in a place where I can re-take the photo, it's not great is it.
Our third release of this beer, with a more similar pomace mix as the 2019 vintage, there was no 2020 due to bushfires. The '22 sees barrel aged Gold blended with post-pressing Riesling and Viognier pomace from the Martin family at Ravensworth. Once again, these are estate grapes meaning they are grown using beyond-organic principles which I find ever inspiring and have mused on before. During their harvest, we make our way down their way almost weekly collecting fruit and skins and generally sneaking out of the city.
One of my favourite things to make beers with are ingredients which another producer is effectively discarding... these 'upcycling' beers make up a decent amount of our beers over the years actually. I love how the flavours can both come through and be transformed through the process of fermentation... also I like giving the grown ingredients a little more longevity.
To the '22, this is three barrels on 1+ tonne of pomace... it's great and powerful, a lot of skin influence. Five months maceration, five months in bottle conditioning.
The base beer is brewed entirely with NSW-grown regenerative certified organic cereals from Chris and Sam Greenwood's farm in Coleambally NSW. Organic raw red wheat with organic Schooner barley malted to a pale roast by Voyager Craft Malt. It is made with filtered Sydney water and Motueka (NZ) and Saaz (CZ) hops. Finally, it was fermented with our house culture of microflora wholly foraged from native flowers in NSW. It was bottled on 21 August 2022 and naturally conditioned through refermentation for 27 weeks. At bottling it was 5.8% ABV.
Luke's tasting notes
Aromas of citrus zest, unripe melon and funky stonefruit. There’s a big spice element also, skinsy vinous spice, dusty brown spices and oak derived sweet vanilla. A tempered palate, there’s a phenolic grip from the grape skins but it still retains a lovely finesse. Musky skinsy white grape, forest spice, mesquite pod, pear and grapefruit flow along the palate. Vinous oak gives length to the dry finish.
And like all our beers, Distinctly Perceived 2022 is best enjoyed when decanted off a settled natural yeast sediment at cellar temperatures (10-12°C).
Enjoy.