Lethbridge La Gauche 2021

There’s not much that Ray Nadeson and Maree Collis can’t (or won’t) turn their hand to. Inspired by the bistro reds of Bordeaux, they have crafted a pair of wines in the image of the region’s left bank and right bank. La Gauche (the left) is thus led by Cabernet Sauvignon (68%), with Merlot (18%) and Cabernet Franc (14%) in support. Both Cabernet parcels come from a well-established vineyard (planted in the 1990s) about three kilometres from the Lethbridge estate in the Moorabool Valley in Geelong. Owned by Tim Harrop, the site sits on the river flats, and the old vines are rooted in basalt-derived rocky soils with quartz throughout. It’s a cool, low-yielding site–just how the Lethbridge team likes it. The Merlot is grown on the basalt over limestone soils of the Lethbridge home vineyard.

Each batch was destemmed and fermented separately before maturing for 18 months in super fine-grained new and one-year-old French wood. Campbell’s note below captures the wine well.