With more than 25 years of experience, Toni approaches every vintage as unique.
Conditions vary, and each season presents new opportunities to craft wines of
elegance and authenticity.
Vineyard Management
The character of our wines is shaped long before harvest:
- Selective leaf plucking in cooler seasons to enhance sunlight exposure
- Thoughtful fruit thinning in generous vintages to maintain balance
- Careful bunch selection to ensure only pristine fruit reaches the winery
These vineyard decisions are fundamental to producing premium Beechworth wines of purity and site expression.
Harvest Precision & Timing
Harvest marks the beginning of transformation.
Fruit is picked at optimal ripeness, either by hand or with modern precision machine harvesting, depending on parcel and variety. Night harvesting is often used for red varieties to retain freshness and aromatic integrity.
Hand harvesting allows selective picking when ripening is uneven, ensuring only the finest fruit is chosen while supporting vineyard biodiversity.
In the Winery: Minimal Intervention, Maximum Expression
Once harvested, grapes are cooled to preserve aromatic purity.
- White wines are gently pressed prior to fermentation.
- Red wines are fermented in skins to extract colour, flavour and tannin.
Fermentation may occur in stainless steel, oak barrels or clay amphorae. We work with both wild and cultured yeasts, adjusting techniques according to variety and vintage conditions.
After fermentation, selected wines mature in:
- Predominantly French oak
- Austrian and Slavonian oak barrels (chosen to complement specific varieties)
- Clay amphorae for enhanced texture without oak influence
Temperature-controlled maturation, careful blending and gentle filtration preserve clarity, balance and fine detail.
Art Meets Science
The science of winemaking provides structure: fermentation temperatures, oxygen management, vessel choice. The art lies in interpretation, sensing what each parcel can become and guiding it toward its highest expression.
Decisions such as whole-bunch pressing, fermentation temperature, stirring versus settling, oak selection, or extended maturation are not formulaic. They are intuitive responses to the vintage, shaped by experience, vision and restraint.
It is this interplay between art and science that defines the elegant, expressive wines of Star Lane.