TASTING THE CURRENT RANGE

SPARKLING & PINOT NOIR
TASTING THE CURRENT RANGE 

2014 APOGEE DELUXE VINTAGE BRUT
Light silver gold, fine bubbles. Complex and restrained bouquet perfumed red apple and yeast. It is starting to  show some nice bottle-age development and increasing integration of oak and fruit. A dry, but rich, glass of sparkling with lots of time ahead of it. 

2015 APOGEE DELUXE VINTAGE ROSÉ

Salmon pink. Minerally strawberry and raspberry, complex and refined. Rich,dry and youthful on the palate with oak nuttiness yet to integrate but fine with food (try with duck liver paté and sourdough croutons) . This wine will really blossom with 12-24 months cork-age.

2017 APOGEE ALTO PINOT NOIR
Vibrant,youthful Pinot Noir crimson. Aromatic spicy cherry and the beginning of some desirable game-meaty complexity like liver paté . Soft and smooth on the palate with surprising richness given the lowish 12.7% alcohol content.

OLDER VINTAGES

It is no longer fashionable to do long-aging of Australian wine but there are big rewards for holding the entire Apogee range more than a year or two. Your cellar does not need to be temperature controlled (except FNQ), just avoid the big heat shocks over 25ºC.
Vintages that are drinking especially well now are 2013 Deluxe Vintage Brut, 2012 Deluxe Vintage Rosé and  both 2013 and 2014 Alto Pinot Gris. The main transformation with age is due to the softening of tannins which gives roundness, and the slow complexing of the flavour profile  towards more toasty and nutty flavours and aromas. 2011 and 2012 Deluxe Vintage Brut are still developing and may need another year or two to reach optimum drinking age.