ProCork products protect wine from oxidation, taints and glue contact.
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Ballandean Estate Winery - Four Generations
Exploring High Altitude Wine and Ancient Granite Soils in Australia
Using ProCork to Protect
Their Unique Expressions of Terroir
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Every wine making region is unique and when matched with the right grape varieties and techniques magic can occur in the glass. It takes generations of dedicated vignerons to achieve brilliant expressions of terroir. What led the Puglisi family, nearly 100 years ago, to the elevated, clean and cool highland air of Ballandean can only be described as an Italian flair for wine.
More intense UV radiation thickens the grape skin intensifying anti-oxidant colours, flavours and tannins. The very low night time cool after a hot day enhances fruit acids which creates better balance, freshness and ageing ability.
It’s not easy to control and it is always a work in progress.
Leanne and Robyn
The fourth generation of Puglisi’s, Leanne and Robyn, are continuing to build on their family’s success as they champion the local terroir with their “Ballandean Estate family team” which includes Dylan Rhymer, their winemaker. Dylan has cool climate skills practised in New Zealand (Marlborough and Hawkes Bay) and European techniques practiced in Bulgaria, Romania and Spain. He is constantly exploring different grapes and methods to express, capture and protect the elusive terroir characters. A great example of this approach is the Ballandean Estate Saperavi, a rich, full flavoured red - velvety, long in flavour, with crisp acidity under a generous flow of fruit flavours. After experimenting for 8 years it now has international wine judges raving having just taken one of the only three Gold Medals in the Saperavi World Prize, an international competition, in Georgia where the grape has been grown for 8,000 years.
Dylan uses the same extremely professional experimental approach in choosing which cork or closure to use with each wine. Systematically blind tasting different closures over 18 years gives him a clear insight and allows him to be firm in his choice. For some wines he is looking for closures that allow natural evolution in the bottle. The ultimate hallmark of the truly greatest wines is their ability to become more complex and integrate with age while maintaining distinctive terroir characters. Dylan has found that ProCork’s oxygen transmission technology on high grade natural cork gives the optimum evolution he is looking for.
“For the last 18 years we have been using ProCork …. Our views are based on our own experiences with our own wines… we try these wines blind to decide which we prefer…… It's about choice. It’s about us making what we feel to be the right choice for the wine… The choice to present our premium red wine range in its best condition…. also to give a wine that will evolve into something even more special over time... We like the evolution of our wines….. We like the way they complex, the way the tannins and acid smooth out. The way our fruit and oak marry together for a rich, savoury wine…. Yes, it would be easy to throw everything under screwcap... they're cheap. About 1/3 of the price of the ProCork we presently use…..but …. we’ve done our trial work.”
Dylan Rhymer
ProCork has an Oxygen Transmission Technology to protect age worthy wine from losing distinctive terroir characteristics to general oxidative or reductive ageing characters of cooked fruit, jam and bitter tannins. It also significantly improves consistency bottle to bottle. Hence, ProCork is being used by some of the world’s top wineries, Ballandean Estate included.
Contact: Dr Gregor Christie
83 Avenida Santiago
Rio Meao Portugal www.procorktech.com procork@procorktech.com