Winemaking
All wines are made at Star Lane Winery by hand with what can only honestly be described as a true passion, dedication, expertise, and a heart felt love of the entire process. Our proudest moment and greatest satisfaction is to share with you as family, handcrafted wine at its absolute best.
Only the finest fruit can make the finest wine. At harvest all grapes are hand picked in the cool of the morning and great care is taken to make sure that only the very best fruit is placed into the bucket to be used for wine production.
Once the fruit has been picked it is processed immediately and the magic starts to begin. Star Lane employ only Wild Yeast Fermentation techniques allowing the fruit to utilise the natural yeast that is present on the skin of the berries. No additional yeast is added.
The wine takes usually a week or more to go through its primary fermentation process in open top fermenters. It is left on skins for a week or two after primary ferment to facilitate cold maceration. The ferments are hand plunged and pumped over both day and night at carefully managed time intervals and closely monitored to ensure precise temperature control. The fruit is then gently basket pressed to extract the final juice from the berries and skins.
After this, the wine is put into tank to settle overnight and then it is put into barrel to undergo its secondary fermentation process which includes natural malolactic fermentation. Importantly, this process is not hurried and is allowed to take place innately via a long and slow motion through winter, into spring, and then completed by early summer before the heat begins.
The Sirugue and Bossuet oak barrels used are 100% French with 40% to 50% new oak included in the mix of barrels each year. Kept in these barrels for almost 2 years the wines are made to be complex with elegance and finesse and to remain true to varietal character. They are distinct and embody a reflection of the famous Beechworth region in which they are grown.
Every bottle of our wine represents the almost countless hours of expert work and care that has been tendered into making a truly boutique product.
Star Lane Wines are genuinely hand crafted with little chemical or additive intervention occurring during the making. The handcrafted process of making the wine allows the fruit to show its true colours and to shine through as a proud reflection of exactly what it is that Star Lane Wines are all about.