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Gamay vines were planted at the Lethbridge property in the Moorabool Valley in 2016. Ray Nadeson and Maree Collis had noticed a change in the climate over their 30 years in the area—an increasing frequency of warmer vintages rather than cooler ones. For this reason they decided to plant some Gamay―which can handle a warmer environment―among their predominantly Chardonnay, Pinot and Shiraz plantings. The vines are planted on the lower section of the vineyards towards nearby Bruce Creek. The warm, more sheltered location, along with the sandy loam over limestone soils, makes it ideal for growing Gamay in the Geelong region.
This is just the third year that Lethbridge has produced a Gamay from these relatively young estate vines. The fruit is picked by hand and ferments with partial carbonic maceration using what that Ray calls his “black forest cake ferment”: a layered fermentation process of crushed and whole bunch fruit. After fermentation, the wine was aged in mature 500-litre puncheons.