Wildflower St Florence 2022: Semillon, M&J Becker will be available online and for tasting and take-away/collection at our cellar door from 12pm (AEST) on Friday 5 May 2023.
The second of two ales made with hand harvested whole bunch white wine grapes from this past harvest. Named for my eldest daughter Florence, this second variant is made with 367kg of certified organic, handpicked, whole bunch Semillon from Ablington Vineyard in Pokolbin, NSW. We can't thank Meagan and James of M&J Becker Wines @beckerwines enough for sharing their beautiful fruit with us once again. Sadly this year the Hunter was hit with summer storms that brought hail and really messed with fruit levels across the region so for the first time in 5 years, we won't have a Semillon beer from the 2023 harvest, making this the last release of it's kind for two years.
Brewed as always with entirely NSW-grown regenerative certified organic grains and fermented with our house mixed culture wholly derived of a diversity of yeasts and bacteria collected from native flowers in NSW. After a seven month maceration and refermentation of fruit and beer, we bottled this ale and allowed it to naturally carbonate and mature in bottle for several months before release.
Luke's tasting notes - Citrus and spice dominant the nose and herbal elements add a lovely dimension. This is such a lifted and bright beer. A direct and energetic palate with a driving citrus core. Seamless and integrated, the palate shows skinsy spice and structure balanced by kiwi, melon, vinous citrus and oak. Great length and persistence, finishing moreishly dry.
The base beer is brewed entirely with certified organic cereals from Chris and Sam Greenwood's farm in Coleambally NSW. Organic raw red wheat and 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 36 weeks. At bottling it was 5.9% ABV and 1°P (FG = 1.004 SG).
And like all our beers, St Florence 2022: Semillon, Becker is best enjoyed when decanted off a settled natural yeast sediment at cellar temperatures (10-12°C).
Enjoy.
