INDEX OF Releases:
- Mayzons Blonshes
- Cabane Beige
- Limestone Cowboy Savagnin
- Maison Salée
- CPG
- Tu Rigoles?
- Matosinhos
- Carafage Conseillé
- Oceanic Feeling
- El Pueblo más Feo
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©2025 Elf SOEhne Verlag
I only believe in two requirements to producing meaningful wine. Really only one. Talent. Talented sites and Talented producers. There is no question in my mind thay the rugged slopes of the Sierra de Francia have talent (I dropped a job in Barolo 15 years ago to come work and live is this, most desolate corner of the Iberian Peninsula). The signal was there and apparently I wasn’t the only one to register it. One could say that Viñas Serranas is a team of lost boys, that like me, independently boarded a bus and stepped off at the very last stop. Miquel, an astrophysicist and climber from Catalonia, Alberto, a winemaker and researcher from Salamanca, César, a wine distributor and merchant from Madrid and Bossi, a wildly gifted viticulturalist, who happened to be born here (the bus driver?).
The wines: The Sierra de Francia (formally D.O. Sierra de Salamanca) is a mountain range that forms the western flank of the Cordillera Central. the continuation of the Sierra de Bejar and Gredos just to its south east. Its lean, granitic and occasionally slatey slopes between 500 and 1000 masl have been terraced into vineyards for at least two milleniae (read more here). The collection of villages that dot the slopes all have a unique character, altitude and soil composition all perfectly articulated by the gamay-esque local variety Rufete. Over the past 10 years, Viñas Serranas have set about preserving this unique viticultural heritage and capturing the personae of these villages in bottle to share with the outside world. The closest thing to boarding a bus to end of Spain.
Miranda (del Castañar) | Rufete on Granitic Sand | 650 masl
Molinillo | Rufete, Calabrès (Grenache), Palomino, Rufete Blanca on Feldspar & Slate | 820 m
El Canchorral (Monforte) | Rufete, Rufete Blanca, Calabrès (Grenache), Trousseau | 900 m
The Purple Spice Pack
The three wines here share neither and address, nor a flavour profile.
They aren’t even from the same vintage. They have all, however, been called purple.
Syrah, Touriga and Dolcetto are all wildly flavourful, spicy and aramotic in their own ways
and for some reason they alll look quite violet in the glass.
2022 Matosinhos | touriga nacional | Plums, potpourri and white pepper | purple
2023 Carafage Conseillé | syrah | Figs, Olive Brine, Blackberry | purple
2025 Carafage Conseillé | dolcetto | violets, mint, white pepper, almond | purple
$105
tHE oceaNIC fEEling
Grüner Veltliner grown withing earshot
of the Souther Ocean
on Limestone
in Mount Benson.
Whole bunches gently macerated
in the juice of the same.
Candied Fennel. White Pepper. White Tea. Orange Blossom.
Two or Three Pack
($85/$125)
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Two Whites and a Red
Three Pack.
Free Shipping (Australia).
$105
Maison Salée
Chardonnay
Padthaway 2024
Chardonnay from John and Julie’s Vineyard on the limestone-laden undualations of Padthaway. 20 Months eleveage and fermentation in 500L seasoned Tonneaux. Distinclty saline and textured. Green Pears, Lemon Cream, Seat Salt. Padthaway-Fuissé ...
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Cabane Beige
Semillon
Mount Gambier (Kongorong) 2024
Semillon from the Limestone flints west of Mount Gambier and 13km from the Southern Ocean. Direct pressed to seasoned oak for 18 months and left untopped for the last 9. Snow Peas, Crushed Oyster Shells, Candle Wax.
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Carafage Conseillé
Dolcetto
Limestone Coast 2025
From the lonely Northern end of the Limestone Shelf. One of my dessert Island grapes. Meticulously picked whole bunches, fermented carbonically for 12 days followed by progressive pigeage then basket pressing. Raised in Stainless steel to preserve fragrance and freshness. Violets, Marzipan and briary fruit perfume.
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Mount Gambier Three
About 20 KM west of Mount Gambier and about 13KM from the Southern Ocean sits one of the Country’s most unique extraodinary terroirs. On a shelf of compacted limestone, locally referred to as flints, the Ellis family have been growing electric fruit that I’ve had the priviledge to guide into wine for the last 5 years. It’s cold here and rains often. Volume is a feature of the local dialect due to the incessant wind buffeting from the Ocean and it often smells like low-tide.
It almost doesn’t seem to matter what wine is made from this site, as they seem to speak more of the sea mist, the cold wind and chalk dust than any grape in particular, and particularly so in the long and cool growing season of 2023. Below a trio that interprets this enigmatic site through the lens of gentle handling and a thoughtful approach.
Mayzons Blonshes: Chardonnay direct pressed to Clayver Ceramic Eggs and seasoned oak for 15 Months.
Cabane Beige: Semillon direct pressed to Clayver Ceramic Eggs and seasoned oak for 15 Months.
CPG: (Chardonnay/Pinot Noir and Gris): Hand-destemmed Pinots infused in Chardonnay juice picked on the Same day. Predominantly Chardonnay . Consumer Packaged Goods.
Calcareous Three. Mount Gambier Pack.
$111 AUD
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