Dero!
The Dero Story
Don't get it twisted. The name Dero is certainly not intended to make fun of or upset anyone. We started here from scratch!
We moved to the Barossa in 2018.
Being new to a place, no family and knowing very few people, it certainly felt lonely at times.
Driven by a strong passion for wine and a desire to get involved and immerse ourselves in all things Barossa. We would look for any opportunity. Some worked out for the best and some did not! For the 2019 vintage I was lucky to secure a vintage position at a cool little winery.
Mid-way through the vintage i was asked “Are you going to make some wine for yourself?” my response was – Hell yeah, if that’s ok? I didn’t know I was allowed to!
The next step was getting fruit… In 2019 grapes where near impossible to get, we searched high and low, with our limited contacts it appeared nothing was available…
A few days later on the forklift I received a call from a new friend “Theres a vineyard in Vine Vale and there is still a bit of fruit out there, come and have a look if you like”
In the end, there was indeed ‘Just a bit of fruit out there’ With the kids we picked a mere 87kg of old vine Shiraz and 320kg of Chardonnay to create our 2019 wines! By the following vintage we had purchased our Flaxman Valley property and planted our new Truffiere,
we lined a shed with insulation, installed cooling for a barrel room and thanks to the help of Gumtree & Market Place, we amassed a little “Winemaking Starter Kit” consisting of picking bins, stainless steel tanks, two small basket presses, barrel racks ect.
In preparation for the 2020 vintage we resorted to posting ads on Gumtree
“Barossa Shiraz Wanted” Putting up “Grapes Wanted” signs in the local pub and supermarkets, cold calling or asking people in the street who I would strike up a conversation with. The above methods yielded us five lovely little parcels of Shiraz that went on to create six Barriques of wine that was to be our first release of 2020 Dero.
Being in a new town and starting most relationships from scratch. The feeling really was at times of being a “Nobody” and the fact I am always doing something on the farm and generally look untidy. I am a self-confessed Dero.
Dero Syrah
We hand pick all our Shiraz from mostly Old Vine all the way up Ancestor Vines sites.
And generally, Dero gets a little lick of locally organically grown Pinot Noir. We have made Pinot from this vineyard for the past 5 years for personal consumption. And on the blending table, it just begs for a small inclusion.
We generally pick our fruit a little earlier. This allows for little to no additions in the winemaking process.
Fermentations are typically whole bunch for an extended period. Sometimes in parcels as little as 300kg!
After fermentation the fruit is gently basket pressed and put to French Oak Barriques. For around 14 months in our cool cellar. Come blending time. The wine is racked and blended via gravity with a small addition of so2.
And shortly after bottled Unfined & Unfiltered.
No product
Our inaugural Release
2020 Review by The Wine Front
2020 Vintage..
Dero is a wine that comes in a brown paper bag, but that is also the label, glued onto a squat, brown glass bottle. Appropriate, per se. The fruit was sourced from Gumtree ads, ‘wanted’ notes on notice boards and ‘asking people in the street who I would strike up a conversation with’. In the end, Dero came from a Hoffmann vineyard in Ebenezer, Steinert in Eden Valley, Nathan Burley’s spot in Flaxman Valley, the Kolovic Family vineyard in Lyndoch and Ted McWatters Williamstown site. Kudos. Sum of parts stuff, shades of Sami-Odi (and indeed reminiscent in the glass) with parcels that were picked between 11 and 15 Baume, but evening out to 13.8%.
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Inky, dark fruited, rich and spicy red. Scents of ripe forest berries, pipe tobacco, charcuterie, forest floor, walnut and wood polish. Flavours are dark fruited too, very spicy, a bit of boot polish and resin to taste, but fits the bill nicely and comes away dense but medium weight and with a web of fine, chocolatey tannins with a trail of breathy fruit and pulverised rock minerally feel lingering. Fine and fresh, lifted, an old school feel but a vitality to the wine. An absolute ripper – nailed it.
Rated: 95 Points
Tasted: OCT21
Alcohol: 13.8%
Closure: Diam
Drink: 2021 – 2030