La Violetta
Great Southern, Western Australia
Founded by the legendary AJ Hoadley, grapes are sourced from a handful of trusted growers across the Great Southern with exceptional vineyards and some amongst the oldest in the state. The idea is to keep production at a small scale so that each wine is personally hand-crafted.
AJ's idea is to keep production at a small scale so that each wine is personally hand-crafted and he achieves this balance between a business and beautiful wines perfectly. Before being taken hostage west by the mind blowing Great Southern grapes, winemaker Andrew Hoadley worked all over Australia’s cool and hot zones and in Piedmont, Abruzzo and Washington State. His wines are a breath of fresh air, some playful, fun and light-hearted, others more serious and structured.
2022 Riesling/Shiraz 'Spunk Nat'
Two serious Great Southern sites combine to produce the pet nat frivolity that is Spunk Nat.
Winemaking:
Frankland River riesling and Mount Barker shiraz drained off after a few hours skin contact, then fermented wild. The wines are racked together at just the right moment then sent to bottle without fining or filtration. The fizz produced by the last gasp of fermentation stays in the bottle, giving vibrancy and froth to this spunky little blend. The 2022 release is opening perfectly, looking fresh as a daisy, so it was decided that it didn’t need disgorging, thus leaving a little fine sediment and natural tartrate crystals in the bottle. The wine contains low levels of residual sulphites from fermentation.
Tasting Notes:
Bright, lifted aromas, with all the freshness of early spring strawberries and wildflowers, and a delicious citrus twang in the mix. The palate is refreshing and textural, with line and length provided by the natural Great Southern riesling acidity, rounded out by fine lees creaminess and a gentle lick of residual sweetness (4 g/L) to balance.
2023 Muscat/Riesling 'Patio Nat'
This is the seventh fizzy wine release we’ve made from this special single vineyard of the black-skinned muscat grape. Feels so good delving into the soul of this ancient variety and its irresistible allure. Every year, it takes winemaker AJ back to the Autumn days he whiled away shovelling moscato skins in the Alta Langa; the delicate, refreshing wines of that region providing a stepping-off point for this more laidback, watchin’ roos lazing in the backyard expression. Also, this vintage disgorged for the first time ever! After a wet spring and a dry ripening season of endless beach days, flavour ripeness came at relatively low sugars, so Muscat held beautiful acidity until harvest on 27th of February in the cool, high Ferguson Valley.
Winemaking:
Skin contact for 20 hours, before pressing to tank and old puncheons to ferment slow and wild for eight weeks - then onward to bottle with no fining or filtration, to seal in the last frothy gasp of fermentation. As always, a splash (around 5%) of Great Southern riesling contributes citrus focus to the finish. This was a contented little ferment and it shows in the bottle, with pristine aromatics and a refreshing palate.
Tasting Notes:
It’s fresh and bright-fruited, sitting clear and pink in the glass, with a fine, meringue-like froth. All the perfumed grapiness of moscato, a lick of grapefruit-skin citrus, notes of barrel ferment complexity; gentle mineral phenolics, sweet-fruited and textural, finishing clean and dry. Out on the patio we sip, baby.
2022 Gewürz/Riesling Yé-Yé Grisé
The gewürz comes from two sites: a high elevation slope of gravelly loam, a few km south of Gnomesville in the Ferguson Valley; and a small parcel from Swinney’s acclaimed Wilson’s Pool vineyard in Frankland River. The riesling is from a gravelly ironstone hillside west of Mount Barker, one of my favourite Great Southern vineyards in another excellent year for the variety. This vintage, a bucket of skin contact black muscat adds the griserie, a subliminal copper hue, accentuating the colour picked up from gewürz skins.
Winemaking:
A blend of 57% Gewürztraminer and 43% Riesling, with flavour, freshness and texture. After several hours skin contact, the juice is pressed off to a mix of tank and old oak vessels without sulphur, to start wild ferment.
Tasting Notes:
Aromatics are so pretty and so fresh: musk, citrus blossom, a splash of rosewater. The pallet has volume and slip, the moreish acidity harmonising with textural layers from lees contact and barrel ferment. Fans of previous vintages will be delighted with this release.
2022 Riesling/Gewürz/Vermentino Yé-Yé Blanc
Great Southern riesling is always at the heart of this blend, sourced from two distinguished sites west of Mt Barker. It shows loads of pure floral intensity, a conversation starter with the other varieties that contribute aromatic complexity and textural elements: old vine, dry-grown Gewürztraminer and a splash of skin-contact Vermentino from Swinney’s vineyard adding texture to the blend.
Winemaking:
Around 25% was fermented in old oak on solids to round out the Riesling linearity with some lees-derived richness, giving context to the structural phenolics. 2022 was a splendid vintage for Riesling and other aromatic whites in Great Southern, a ripening season with mild to warm days, bringing ripeness and fruit intensity while retaining purity, drive and natural acidity.
Tasting Notes:
Freshness, balance and aromatic intensity typical of the region, with scents of citrus, stone fruit and white flowers. Natural acidity carries the fruit weight, providing a canvas for phenolic textures, lees contact, barrel fermentation and the uniquely skinsy slide of Vermentino. Fully drinkable, glass after glass.
2023 Riesling ‘Das Sakrileg’
This wine is crafted for those with inquisitive palates and an appreciation for diversity. Produced in small quantities from a selection of the best barrels from the vintage. The single vineyard fruit was handled in an oxidative way, fermented in wild barrel, and matured on lees without sulphur, and even underwent partial malolactic fermentation.
Winemaking:
The wine fermented slowly at ambient temperature in a cool hillside cellar and remained on lees in old puncheons for 11 months before racking and bottling without filtration.
Tasting Notes:
“The 2023 release shows great phenolic presence and depth of savoury characters, with scents reminiscent of quince, petrichor, beeswax and complex characters derived from wild ferment and extended lees contact. On the finely textured palate, acidity is tempered by the richness of fermentation in seasoned oak and time on lees. It has lip-smacking intensity and juicy, textural glide. There is a fine-boned tautness here with a long future ahead, but even in its youth the bottle just slides on down like it had someplace else to be.” AJ Hoadley, La Violetta
2023 Riesling ‘Little Sak’
A grand debut for the Little Sak Riesling, which was born out of a lightbulb moment when AJ decided to make a normal Great Southern Riesling, something he’d never done in the 15 years of La Violetta’s existence. He chose to use fruit off one of Mt Barker’s oldest and most distinguished vineyards. It’s a little less oxidatively handled, didn’t see as much barrel during fermentation, is a little more fruit driven, and was less influenced by lees.
Winemaking:
The Mt Barker old vine fruit was wild fermented; 80% tank, 20% old oak. The wine spent 6 months on fine lees prior to bottling, unfined.
Tasting Notes:
“Pure delight straight out of the bottle, expressive and focused, with classic Barker aromatics of cool slate, lime zest, off-the-tree-fresh red apples. Take a mouthful, and the succulence takes hold. There’s plenty of acid in here, but it’s stitched into the wine and you can’t really see how, it just glides along like a crazy flavour train tossing out bouquets of wildflowers and coastal herbs. Choo choo. So I would say drink it now, drink it in ten years. Please yourself. But do drink it now.” AJ Hoadley, La Violetta
2022 Vermentino ‘FAV’
Favorita is the Piedmontese name for Vermentino, so FAV, obvs. The fruit was harvested on 14th March from International Hill vineyard, west of Frankland in Great Southern.
Winemaking:
Grapes were destemmed and had six days skin contact before pressing to seasoned French oak for wild fermentation at ambient cellar temperature. After this, the wine rested undisturbed on lees for nine months, before racking and sulphite addition prior to bottling on 14th December, 2021; unfined and unfiltered.
Tasting Notes:
Intensely fragrant, with scents reminiscent of nashi, white flowers and honeydew melon. On the palate, the slippery delights of skin contact bring a pleasing succulence, yet the overall impression remains savoury and delicate, with lees contact and barrel ferment contributing complex notes on the finish.
2021 Chardonnay 'Chagrin'
Sourced from a single site in Scotsdale Valley, west of Denmark, at the cutting edge of WA chardonnay.
Winemaking:
Hand harvested, then pressed direct to beautiful old French puncheons and a few fancy new hogsheads. Wild ferment on full solids, 9 months on lees, unsulphured without bâtonnage; naturally settled, racked and bottled without fining or filtration.
Tasting Notes:
Perfumed, fine stone fruit and citrus, savoury lees complexity, smoky funk and tight oak presence. Flavoursome and textured, with an acid line that brooks no dissent, the palate rings clear as a cut glass bell. Guaranteed to put a chardonnay smile on your dial for years into the future.
2023 Grenache 'Lounge Chill'
Tasting Notes:
All the aromatics you need. It’s pretty and perfumed. It’s juicy and vibrant. Lay back and let its pillowy textures embrace you.
2022 Pino Nero/Syrah/Meunier 'Yé-Yé Rouge'
Low yielding clonal pinot noir (777, 114, 115) from Denmark makes up the heart of the blend, bringing lifted red fruits, musk and herbal notes, with Syrah contributing spice and plush mouthfeel. The Syrah comes from a Mt Barker ironstone gravelly loam site; mid-weight, juicy, spicy; a little Denmark Meunier for brooding dark fruits.
Winemaking:
60% Pino Nero, 26% Syrah, 14% Meunier blend. A lot of stalks, whole berries and carbonic in here, all fermented wild, then pressed to oak to complete malolactic fermentation. Seven months in oak and early to bottle keeps the style where it’s best - fresh, crunchy, layered, smooth but with some textural scratch.
Tasting Notes:
Bright red and black fruits here, layers of sweet spice and savoury intrigue. Light on its feet, vibrant, but never feels simple. There’s a beautiful interplay of fruit and tannins going on, an energy and deliciousness that keeps you coming back for more. 91 pts. Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front
2022 'Nova Syrová'
The wine has a number of different elements, with a lot of whole bunches involved.
Winemaking:
39% Syrah, 30% Grenache, 14% Pinot Noir, 11% Mataro, 6% Meunier. Whole bunch carbonic Syrah and Grenache parcels pressed off to finish ferment in old barriques, whole bunch Pinot Noir left on skins to start wild carbonic ferment, before pressing off and a splash of our old favourite Meunier. Unfined, the only addition being sulphur dioxide just prior to bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Nova Syrová is back after a three-year hiatus and tasting as joyously oddball as ever. There’s quite a bit to unpack here, with notes of brooding stalky smoke and dank herb amongst the wash of bright cherry-lift red fruit aromas. En bouche, a soft approach - quite a juicy little number, give it a chill if you like - but loaded with vibrant flavours in a fascinating weave a bit like a black cotton knit sweater with a parrot and floral motif from Olivia Newton-John’s private collection (pictured). In other words, timeless, ultimately indescribable, and utterly irresistible. 93 pts. Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front
2022 Pinot Noir ‘Penury’
Sourced from the same little Denmark vineyard where our chardonnay and meunier are grown. 2022 was a tremendous season in Great Southern, with picture book fruit.
Winemaking:
This is a blend of three different pinot noir clones, wild fermented and barefoot massaged. Made in small, open fermenters, with 100% whole bunch carbonic, wild yeasts, traditional pigeage and hand plunging.
Tasting Notes:
Showing bright varietal aromatics with complex whole bunch and autumnal forestry undertones. Just sensational drinking right now, with an elegant frame that has the concentration and depth for cellaring.
2021 Shiraz ‘Up!’
Sourced from distinguished sites in Great Southern, on gravelly ironstone loam with granitic sands, delivering the region’s unique characters with remarkable depth and intensity. The 2021 release is a blend of two sites: Mt Barker and newly grafted clones at Frankland River.
Winemaking:
Six separate small parcels fermented in open vessels for 14-28 days, worked only by hand plunging and barefoot pigeage. Whole clusters were included at around 25% overall. The wine was drained and pressed straight to French puncheons and barriques, 25% new, to age for 10 months before blending and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Bright and fresh, red and black fruits, before opening to savoury, earthy notes; blood, game, spice and charcuterie come to the fore as the wine breathes up in the glass. The palate rolls out with liquorice-florals and red fruits set to a ferrous, mineral backbeat. Vibrant expression of place.