Tell us a little about yourself.
I’m Joe, I’m the assistant winemaker here at Gusbourne. I’ve been here for two years now. I originally grew up in Adelaide, South Australia, and I cut my teeth in the McLaren Vale working primarily with red wines. I naturally made a progression to sparkling wine in England.
What wine have you made for the Winemakers' Edition?
This is my Winemaker’s Edition Pinot Noir Blanc from 2025.
So, I originally set out to make a nice, textural, easy-drinking, fresh white wine; then I thought it would be cool to make that from Pinot Noir.
Where did the fruit come from?
This is from Lower Mill Hill; it's 115 on 3309 rootstock. Often that fruit will go into the sparkling programme, so I think Lower Mill Hill fruit was looking absolutely exceptional when it came in, really clean – a massive credit to the vineyard guys who just do a bang-up job.
How did the quality of the fruit shape your approach?
So, with that fruit, I decided to take it down a textural route – lees stirring, a high percentage of solids which is a little bit different from our classic still programme here.
How was the wine made?
It’s whole-bunch picked, whole-bunch pressed. Racked with a high proportion of solids, barrel-fermented with lees stirring every day through primary fermentation and that extended to every second day during malolactic fermentation, and once a week during the ageing period. It sat in oak during the ageing period for four months. And that shows in the glass, it’s a super cool textural wine.
Why did you choose to retain more solids?
We racked with a very high proportion of the gross solids, which is slightly different to how we make Guinevere and other still wines in our programme. The more gross solids you carry over, the more it lets you build a bit more texture and a bit more phenolic weight in the wine.
How would you describe the wine in the glass?
It’s got this lovely, rose-gold colour to it. It’s got this beautiful lifted red fruit, mandarin, Pink Lady apple character to it. On the palate, it’s got this really nice acid drive but also this phenolic weight, which is balanced with the lees stirring and the barrel fermentation. It just creates a really nice generous palate which isn’t overbearing. It’s a really enjoyable wine.
When should people drink it?
We bottled it at the end of January, so it’s had a few months on cork now. As far as when to drink it, it’s definitely a wine for when the weather turns at the end of autumn.
What would you serve alongside it?
I would enjoy this wine with a nice bag of salty crisps or some olives on a beautiful autumn day.
Tell us about its nickname…
While it’s been in the cellar, it’s gone by the nickname the Joey – my name’s Joe, and I’m from Australia...
