Shop/Cabernet, Merlot & Blends/Ephemera Claret
Kangaroo Ground, Yarra Valley, Australia
Ephemera Claret 2023
Ephemera
Fresh, direct Yarra claret — a summer red in the old sense.
$32.00
750mlVintage may change. If it does, we’ll notify you of any price adjustment before dispatch.
About
Cabernet Sauvignon with a splash of Syrah off black volcanic soils at Kangaroo Ground in the Yarra Valley, from organically grown fruit. Made with a light touch: four days' maceration with no plunging or pumping over, then seven months on light lees in stainless tank — no new oak anywhere. The result is fresh and direct, a claret in the drink-it-with-dinner sense rather than the cellar-it sense.
Ephemera is a two-person operation based in the Yarra Valley. Janelle De Gabriele brings the technical winemaking and the instinct in the cellar. Rhen Dodd looks after the vines and the hands-on growing. Their fruit comes from an organically grown home block in the Yarra and, for the Italian grapes, from the Chalmers vineyard in Heathcote.
The name is the whole idea. They call it snapshot winemaking: catch what a site and a season gave that year rather than chase the same wine every time. Skin contact and whole bunches are tools they play with for texture. The aim is wine that is refreshing and easy to drink, with a touch of funk.
At 12.5 percent this is a red for a warm evening. Give it twenty minutes in the fridge and open it with whatever is on the grill.
Producer note
Ephemera is the minimal-intervention label of winemakers Janelle De Gabriele and Rhen Dodd, who work with natural fermentation, seasoned vessels and no fining or filtering.
Structure
Grape
Picked on Stef's structure profile.
