About
55% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Shiraz from the Yarra Valley, hand-picked, gently pressed and fermented in stainless steel to keep the red-fruit expression pure and the colour a pale salmon. Cherry blossom and ripe red berries on the nose, moving into juicy plum and stone fruit with a creamy texture and real length. The producer bills the Fontaine as Australia's first true Provence-style dry rosé, and it still drinks like the benchmark. Serve well chilled.
The 2025 season started with a cool, wet spring and then turned very dry through summer. That sped up ripening and concentrated the flavour while the cool Yarra sites held onto freshness. The family's home vineyard at Coldstream was planted in 2002 beside the winery. It sits on grey loam and alluvial soils and grows Cabernet and the other Bordeaux varieties.
Dominique Portet came from ten generations of French winemaking and set up in the Yarra in 2000. His son Ben makes the wines now, having trained at Louis Roederer and Warwick Estate. Fontaine is the family's early-drinking range, the one built for lively wines you open young.
Pour it cold, around 6 to 8 degrees. Prawn salad, oysters, grilled salmon, goat's cheese, sushi and light pasta all sit well beside it.
Structure
Grape
Picked on Stef's structure profile.
