Bibendum Wine Co.
Bibendum Wine Co.
Bibendum Wine Co.
Bibendum Wine Co.

Log in for prices and ordering

Garagiste

“A Rare Combination”: 2025 Spring Releases
Garagiste

There were many happy faces in Mornington as the 2025 vintage drew to a close. The quality of the fruit was one thing: perhaps even more importantly, after a string of cooler, low yielding years, yields were heading in the right direction. 


It should come as no surprise that Barney Flanders has knocked it out the park. His whites are fleshy and delicious, yet not without the elegance, tension and lucidity typical of this Mornington star. Drawing on the backbone of his new Merricks North vineyard, the Le Stagiaire Pinot, young as it is, is superbly chiselled and refined. What’s more, Barney’s sleek, nuanced Merricks Rosé is back and better than ever. 

The Wines

Garagiste Le Stagiaire Chardonnay 2025

Garagiste Le Stagiaire Chardonnay 2025

This year’s Stagiaire blend draws on fruit from Merricks (35%), Balnarring (25%), Merricks North (30%) and Tuerong (10%). The Merricks North parcel is drawn from the latest addition to Garagiste’s bench of great Mornington sites. Planted in 1996, the vines lie in similar brown loamy soils to those at the flagship Merricks Grove site located close by.

Sorted in the vineyard and winery before being pressed as whole bunches to 500-litre puncheons, this wine is wild fermented with no temperature control, followed by seven months on lees to slowly enrich the texture. A couple of barrels went through malolactic, and the nicely integrated new oak component stands at 10%.

“This is juicy and flavoursome. Nectarine, pink grapefruit, a lightly salty and spicy preserved lemon thing. It has a pulpy citrus flavour mixed with stone fruit, a little creamy and nutty, some flinty bits, with a seaside saline and citrus finish of excellent length. It’s such a tasty Chardonnay. Everything is in the right place.”
94 points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Garagiste Le Stagiaire Chardonnay 2025
Garagiste Le Stagiaire Gewürztraminer 2025

Garagiste Le Stagiaire Gewürztraminer 2025

In good years, Garagiste’s small parcel of 30-year-old vines in Tuerong yields bunch sizes averaging 20-30 grams! In 2025, there was just enough for a single 500-litre barrel. It's a shame more people won’t get to taste such a lovely wine. Half the fruit ferments as whole bunches for three weeks, where Barney looks to build mouthfeel rather than relying on high levels of ripeness on the vine: “The carbonic element ramps up the perfume and the texture.” The remaining half is pressed as bunches for fermentation in seasoned wood, and the whole matured for seven months in a single puncheon on its lees. 

This is textbook Gewürz, immediately giving off scents of rose petals and water, meadow florals, some spice and beautifully ripe, pure fruit. The texture is succulent, with flecks of phenolics and a detailed line of livening acidity keeping everything tight and compact. This belongs on a degustation menu (or get this in front of some meltingly ripe Munster). 

Garagiste Le Stagiaire Gewürztraminer 2025
Garagiste Le Stagiaire Pinot Noir 2025

Garagiste Le Stagiaire Pinot Noir 2025

Garagiste’s new Merricks North ‘fermage’, home to 30-year Dijon clones, plays a starring role in this year’s Stagiaire blend, accounting for 42%. The balance comprises fruit from Barney’s Balnarring (40%), Red Hill (10%) and Merricks Grove (8%) sites. Balnarring, Red Hill and Merricks Grove are all MV6 clone, whereas Merricks North brings Dijon 114 and 115 into the mix, lending pretty plushness and perfumed nuance to the MV6’s natural structure and power. 

After sorting in the vineyard and winery, spontaneous fermentations took place in concrete and stainless steel with whole berries complemented by a 5% bunch component. The fruit spent 24 days on skins, with gentle pumpovers and a small amount of plunging towards the end. The wine matured on its lees in 300-litre hogsheads for seven months, with just 5% new oak. Bottled without fining or filtration, this is quintessential grower Mornington Pinot, bright and perfumed, with red berries, spice and some earthy depth allied to juicy weight, a powerful core and a subtle but refreshing mineral line. Simply outstanding personality.


Juicy, red fruits, spice, potpourri, roast peanuts. It’s medium-bodied, plenty of energy here, crisp cool acidity, light emery board tannin, a pop to cherry and red fruits, some cola nut and dried herb, a slight smokiness, with a spicy orange zest finish of excellent length.
93+ Points, Garry Walsh, The Wine Front
Garagiste Le Stagiaire Pinot Noir 2025
Garagiste Merricks Rosé 2025

Garagiste Merricks Rosé 2025

Barney Flanders grows and makes a mean Pinot Noir, so it’s no surprise he uses this grape to make his slinky and fleshy Mornington rosé. The fruit hails from a south-facing Pinot Noir block in Merricks. It was hand-picked, sorted and whole-bunch pressed on a slow, gentle cycle and then sent to old puncheons to ferment naturally, with no temperature control on full solids. The blend spent seven months on lees before bottling.

Garagiste Merricks Rosé 2025
Garagiste Merricks Pinot Gris 2025

Garagiste Merricks Pinot Gris 2025

In Barney Flanders's hands, Pinot Gris can be a wonderful thing. Time after time, you can expect a mouthwatering pure Gris with texture, structure and balance, and the 2025 is right in the zone. The fruit is sourced from 28-year-old, northeast-facing vines rooted in the signature grey loam and red ferrosols soils of Merricks. The majority of the fruit is pressed as bunches to old puncheons with full solids and kept on lees, while a small portion of the blend (10%) ferments carbonically for three weeks. 


Garagiste Merricks Pinot Gris 2025

Other Recent Releases

  • François Chidaine
    François Chidaine
    What more can be said about this inspiring Loire Valley grower that hasn’t already been...
    What more can be said about this inspiring Loire Valley grower that hasn’t already been said? Perhaps it’s best to let the critics speak: “Chidaine...

    Read more

  • Lethbridge: Thirty Years Young
    Lethbridge: Thirty Years Young
    To list everything Ray Nadeson and Maree Collis do well would be like trying to catch a...
    To list everything Ray Nadeson and Maree Collis do well would be like trying to catch a waterfall in a bucket. As the domaine marks its 30th annive...

    Read more

  • Luciano Sandrone
    Luciano Sandrone
    A truly great vintage, from a truly great grower. Barolo 2021 is the most anticipated v...
    A truly great vintage, from a truly great grower. Barolo 2021 is the most anticipated vintage for some time, and the wines from Sandrone well and t...

    Read more

  • Jaeger-Defaix Restocks
    Jaeger-Defaix Restocks
    Although it’s extremely rare to find top-notch, top-value GROWER Burgundy these days, t...
    Although it’s extremely rare to find top-notch, top-value GROWER Burgundy these days, there is still some to be found if you know where to look.

    Read more

  • Quealy Pinot Gris & Pinot Grigio
    Quealy Pinot Gris & Pinot Grigio
    “Pioneer” is not a term to be used lightly, yet it is entirely fitting when describing ...
    “Pioneer” is not a term to be used lightly, yet it is entirely fitting when describing the careers of Kathleen Quealy and Kevin McCarthy. This infl...

    Read more

  • Champagne Laherte Frères
    Champagne Laherte Frères
    Some of the best things happen slowly. Aurélien Laherte is not an overnight success; he...
    Some of the best things happen slowly. Aurélien Laherte is not an overnight success; he took over from his father Thierry and his uncle Christian i...

    Read more

  • Albino Rocca 2022
    Albino Rocca 2022
    The Rocca family have crafted a brilliant portfolio of 2022 Barbaresco. The wines’ bala...
    The Rocca family have crafted a brilliant portfolio of 2022 Barbaresco. The wines’ balance, like a tightrope walker over the Tanaro River, and lift...

    Read more

  • Barossa Heritage
    Barossa Heritage
    In 1849, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote “plus ça change, plus c'est la...
    In 1849, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose,” – the more things change, the more they stay t...

    Read more

  • A Flight of Crozes
    A Flight of Crozes
    Given that Domaine Alain Graillot has stood at the summit of the Crozes-Hermitage appel...
    Given that Domaine Alain Graillot has stood at the summit of the Crozes-Hermitage appellation for over 40 years—with Maxime Graillot present for ha...

    Read more

View All Offers