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Our winemaking process

The Narkoojee Difference

The characteristic wines produced by Narkoojee result from a combination of our unique micro-climate, soil profile and experimental winemaking techniques.

Fresh grapes on the vine in the Narkoojee vineyard

The vineyard

The vineyard has been established on deep alluvial soils which include mixtures of clay, silt, sand and ironstone gravels. 

The combination of location, soils and climate creates the ideal environment for the production of classic cool climate wines. The vines are trained to a lyre trellis system, which increases sunlight penetration and air circulation, producing fruit of optimum quality.

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To our knowledge, Narkoojee is the only vineyard in Gippsland to use a Lyre Trellis, which provides fantastic results. It consists of two uprights which are sloping outwards to a small degree and about a metre or so apart.  This enables the vine canopy to be trained into two ‘walls’ allowing more growth to be managed and sunlight to penetrate into the centre of the vine canopy.  It also encourages better air circulation with lower disease incidence.

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Currently Narkoojee grows chardonnay, viognier, pinot noir, merlot, shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc, which allows us to produce a wide variety of wines.

Climate

Gippsland generally produces cool climate styles, however the extremely large region is broadly divided into south, east and west, each having their own climate characteristics their own grape growing and winemaking associations.

 

Narkoojee is situated the central part of Gippsland, which means it shares the moderate climate and higher humidity of the eastern region. Being a little drier, warmer and sunnier than other parts, Narkoojee wines can often be fuller in flavour, and we can successfully produce a greater range of varieties where other wineries may struggle including cabernet.

Our wines

Narkoojee’s cool climate style wines have heightened fruit flavours, elegance, good acidity and low to moderate (13% – 14%) alcohol levels.  Particularly suited to these wine styles are chardonnay, pinot noir and merlot with shiraz, although grown extensively in warmer regions, producing a wine where black pepper is a pronounced characteristic in cooler regions.

 

Cabernet sauvignon is often cited as unable to be ripened properly in cool regions, Narkoojee’s unique micro-climate means we are an exception. In over 30 years of operation, the only year in which our cabernet sauvignon grapes didn’t ripen sufficiently was 2011.

The Narkoojee vineyard

Our General Approach to
Wine Making

Fermentation and Oak Usage

All wines are fermented by wild yeasts indigenous to our vineyard.  Malolactic fermentation is also carried out by indigenous malolactic bacteria.

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All new oak barrels are sourced from French coopers and are 300 litre hogsheads, with a smaller number of 500 litre puncheons.  Many older barrels consist of 228 litre barriques.

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Our Chardonnay and Viognier Wines

The Valerie Chardonnay, Valerie Viognier and Reserve Chardonnay wines are fermented in a higher percentage of new oak with no batonnage.  They are bottled after about 16 months with a portion of that time spent in oak and the remainder in tank.  The Premium level Lily Grace Chardonnay and Viognier are matured mostly in older barrels, spending less time in oak and tank before bottling.

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Our Red Wines

The red wines are crushed and fermented in smaller tanks, so hand plunging can be used in addition to pumping over.  After fermentation they are racked into oak barrels for aging.  The Pinot's are bottled after about 16 months while the other reds may stay in oak for 18 months or so, with the proportion of new oak lower for the Premium wines.

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A Brief History

The first half acre of vines was planted in 1980 by Harry Friend on his parent’s dairy farm in Gippsland.  Harry graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from Melbourne University.  He developed an interest in wine and made his wine in 1985, winning a Gold Medal.

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With this success Harry set up his grape growing and winemaking company Narkoojee Pty Ltd which has gone on to win many medals and trophies, including the Michelin Trophy for best wine in show, Le Concours Des Vins Du Victoria.

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Harry passed the baton to his younger son Axel in 2013, who has continued to impress with the beautiful, elegant wines he has made, leading to the winery being rated 5 red star quality by the Halliday wine tasting team.

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The Real Review team led by Huon Hooke in Sydney, also rates Narkoojee among the top wineries of Australia.

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