THREE Bathurst winemakers have again teamed up to produce the region’s own sparkling chardonnay in the lead-up to Christmas.
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For more than a decade Mark Renzaglia from Renzaglia Wines, Tony Hatch from Vale Creek and Andrew Macarthur from Grass Parrot Vineyard have come together under the Cobbers label to produce a range of local wines.
Initially they bottled red wine varieties such as shiraz and cabernet merlot but in recent years have made sparkling chardonnay their specialty.
They believe Cobbers is the only locally-grown and locally-produced sparking wine currently on the market.
The 2017 vintage was launched at the Bathurst Farmers’ Market on Saturday and Mr Renzaglia said it was again expected to sell well.
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“This year made just over 2000 litres which is about the same as the last couple of years,” he said.
“We have been getting very good support from the Bathurst community.”
Mr Renzaglia said the base chardonnay was made from grapes grown at the Mount Panorama Estate vineyard and then sent to Mudgee “to have the bubbles added”.
“We use the charmat method which means that instead of the traditional way which is adding a bit of yeast and syrup in the bottle, the charmat method is in a big pressurised tank and the yeast and syrup is added to the tank,” he said.
“You don’t end up with the yeasty character of a wine produced the traditional way.
“We were very confident when we sent it off that we had a very good base due to the quality of the fruit. All the bases we have started with have been pretty decent but we were confident this year was going to be the best.”
Mr Renzaglia said the 2017 Cobbers had an “appley and citrusy character”.
“It’s more crisp than previous years and has a really nice, long acid finish, but it is not tart or overly dry as some sparkling can be.”
The 2017 Cobbers sparkling chardonnay is available from the cellar door at each of the wineries.