GOOD INTENTIONS WINES - NEW RELEASES, Mt Gambier SA

Posted by Halle aux Vins Halle aux Vins on May 31, 2021

There is always a burst of excitement at Halle aux Vins when the Good Intentions new releases are back in the house ! Yes, 2020 was a difficult year with very small yields but the wines are solid, concentrated and full of flavour. These wines are the result of Andrew and Louise's long held dream, through hard work and determination to produce organic wines with minimal approach and lots of character. We can tell you that all their effort has paid off as the wines are expressive, complex and reflect the true expression of the unique volcanic terroir of Mount Gambier.

For those who are not familiar with Good Intentions, Andrew and Louise started making wines in 2014 by leasing some vineyards around the region of Mount Gambier, famous for the limestone and flint soils. They're still leasing 4 vineyards but now also own 2 vineyards including the one hectare of Chardonnay (Lake side) recently purchased after bringing the old vines back to life over the last 5 years of leasing. The other vineyard was planted on their own property almost 3 years ago with some Syrah, Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Cabernet Franc. The vines will be productive in the next couple of years, maybe 2022 vintage with at least the Cabernet Franc, one of Andrew's favourite variety. Andrew spent some time in Loire Valley in 2018 with a couple of natural vignerons like Francois Blanchard, but also paid a visit to Seb Dervieux aka Babass and his partner in crime Jean Christophe Garnier, in order to understand the different ways of working with this grape.

“We wanted to grip the earth with our toes and use our knowledge in organic farming and permaculture to create our own wine label. We wanted to create a community where we could be proud to raise our daughter Frankie. Our dream is to inspire home grown eating, drinking and music that nourishes the land and reflects our personalities and to share it with the community." Says Andrew

"We make wines that reflect the eccentricities of our personalities, place and terroir with a minimalistic approach. We use old world wine methods, preferring the challenges of hand picking our fruit, open fermenting with indigenous yeast and only adding sulphur when required by the wine. We do not filter or fine our wines and they are all bottled on site in our small winery. Our aim is to produce great tasting unique wines expressing this unique terroir above anything else. We produce what we like to drink.” Andrew Burchell winemaker

2020 - Noir Dee Doot Dah

This organically grown Pinot Noir is a juicy number fermented with a bit of whole bunch and aged in french oak barrels. Unfined, unfiltered and has little of So2 added.

Macerated for over a week, this expressive Pinot Noir shows nice aromas of strawberries, red cherries, cassis, sour cherries on the nose. Rich berry characters, earthy notes with great acidity on the palate. Plenty of deliciousness !

(11.6% abv)

2020 - Relatively red

This little number is a light bodied red wine - can be served chilled !

It's a 100% shiraz, picked early and stays only a short time on skins during the maceration. The wine has a charming nose of red curants, candied red fruits, on the palate it shows fun aromas of sour cherries - it's juicy and has a great acidity making this wine drinkable at any time !

Delicious ! (12.2% abv)