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Turners Crossing Logo

the grower

turners crossing
bendigo, victoria
gower: paul jenkins   
winemaker: sergio carlei

Paul Jenkins has been growing grapes for premier Victorian winemakers for over twenty years. A former corporate executive and Latrobe Univeristy business school lecturer, Paul started his first vineyard in 1985 in Prospect Hill.   In 1999, Paul planted his second vineyard, Turner’s Crossing.  Many highly regarded wineries, including Seppelts Wines, Blackjack, Hanging Rock, Sandhurst Ridge and The Green Vineyards source grapes from the Turner’s Crossing Vineyard.  The 2002 Green Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, crafted from Turner’s Crossing grapes, won the prestigious Blue-Gold award in the Sydney International Wine Competition. Paul is also a partner in Carlei Wines.

the winemaker

Sergio Carlei, the winemaker behind these wonderful wines, is one of the most interesting winemakers in Australia. A first generation Australian of Italian winemaking heritage, Sergio brings real passion to making wines of great distinction. For more information on Sergio, click here.

the vineyard

Turner’s Crossing Vineyard is located in Bendigo, an historic wine-growing region in Central Victoria, Australia.  The vineyard is located on the banks of the Loddon River, at Turner’s Crossing, a popular ford used by local farmers in the mid to late 1800s.

For well over a century the ranges of Central Victoria surrounding Bendigo have been home to some of Australia’s greatest wines. The first grapes were planted in the region in 1856, just after the start of the massive gold rush. The gold rush brought tens of thousands of hopeful diggers from around world, many of whom had extensive knowledge of the wines and foods of Europe. Their knowledge, combined with the exceptional quality of Bendigo fruit, yielded wines of such distinction that the judges at the 1873 Vienna Exhibition were heard to exclaim of Bendigo’s early Hermitage (Shiraz) that “no Colonial wine can be that good!” The tradition of great wines in Bendigo continues, as evidenced by accolades in the press and the numerous awards at wine shows throughout Australia.

The 103 acres of vines at Turner’s Crossing are planted on well-drained red sandy clay loam topsoil. The subsoil is red light-medium clay, containing limestone pebbles. There is minimal use of chemicals and pesticides are not used at all.  Vines are spur pruned and bud numbers are calculated to allow low yields.

The Turner’s Crossing vineyard is planted with Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier.

the wines

2002 Turners Crossing Cabernet Sauvignon

TCCab02

Bendigo, Victoria

Tasting Notes:
Plenty of fruit on the nose. Mulberry and blackcurrant mingle with plum and a hint of black olive. With the palate the flavor mix is further complicated with some earthy notes and some plum like flavors. All of this finishes with firm, slightly firm and ripe tannins. This points to the wine needing a few more years of bottle age before reaching its best drinking condition.

Winemakers’ comments:
Harvested from low yielding vines in the warmer Bendigo region in Western Central Victoria. The fruit was destemmed with whole berry preservation and fermented on its skins for 14 days with the introduction of a Bordeaux strain of yeast and aged for 14 months in used French oak. The 2002 season was an extraordinary year from grapes quality in Victoria.

Alc: 15%      Harvest: 24th April 2002

Awards & reviews:
The wine has been highly awarded including the prestigious Blue-Gold in the Sydney International wine competition in 2003 and has been also classed in the top 100 wines in Australia

2003 Turners Crossing Shiraz Viognier

TCShzVio

Bendigo, Victoria

Tasting Notes:
Very deep red color, the aroma has intense ripe red and black fruits with no overt jammy elements and some complex spiciness and savory elements and Viognier aromatics. The palate is complementary to the aromas, rich, round and moderate in weight with intense fruit and some savory, earthy elements, lovely framing spicey persistent tannins and lingering balanced mineral acidity. The wine is very complex and represents the classical Bendigo terrior in an excellent year. Although the wine is rich, it is ironically still “tight” and therefore, will also benefit with aging.

Winemakers’ Notes:
The Shiraz fruit is from low yielding vines and was harvested at the appropriate time to ensure optimum balance, ripeness and intensity of flavour. They were destemmed; berries not crushed or pumped to preserve their physical integrity and transferred to a majority of open 3800 L wooden and some stainless steel 3000 L vats. The Viognier was co-fermented with Shiraz in the stainless steel vat to preserve fruit flavour intensity. A combination of different maceration times (mainly pumping over) from 12 to 24 days on skins and a majority of the batches were naturally fermented. The wine was aged in new and used French and Hungarian oak for 18 months.

Alc: 14.0%    Harvest:  6th March 2003

Awards & Reviews:

 

the region

linie

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