Importers: if you are interested in getting pricing, marketing support and samples, please fill the form at the bottom of the page.
This winery is part of Wine Australia and BTN program which offers great support to it's new importers in the first 12 months.
Terre à Terre
Introducing Terre à Terre
Terre à Terre, a French expression meaning Down to Earth, is a small Australian wine domaine run by husband and wife team Xavier Bizot and Lucy Croser.
The close-spaced 8-hectare vineyard is located next to Tapanappa (link is external)’s Whalebone Vineyard, at the top of a North-South limestone ridge in Wrattonbully (link is external), one of Australia’s most exciting regions. The climate is similar to Saint Emilion in France. The Terre à Terre vineyard was first planted in 2004 with 2 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and 3 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon. In 2008, 1 hectare each of Cabernet Franc and Shiraz were also planted. The last 1 hectare of Sauvignon Blanc was planted in 2013.
History
Xavier and Lucy had begun working together in 2005 starting Terroir Selections, a boutique wine wholesaler dedicated to unearthing wine domaines from across the world that produce some of the most interesting and exciting wines from their respective regions. Additionally, they both work together alongside their father/father-in-law Brian Croser on the development of his new venture Tapanappa Wines, a fine wine company that produces highly accoladed wines from three "distinguished site" vineyards in South Australia. You can see a theme developing….
Back in 2004, Xavier and Lucy purchased a block of land right next door to Tapanappa's Whalebone Vineyard in Wrattonbully, and planted it on close spacing to Sauvignon Blanc (2 hectares) and Cabernet Sauvignon (3 hectares). As the time approached to think about negotiating that sale of the first crop they just couldn't bring themselves to do it. The wines that they were selling through Terroir Selections had given them ideas about different winemaking techniques that they wanted to explore, and the quality of the terroir at Wrattonbully, proven by the wines that Tapanappa was producing, was just too tempting.
Viticulture
Due to the very narrow row width (1.5m), special equipment directly imported from France is used in the vineyard.
The vines are hand pruned in August every year. The vines are cane pruned (2 canes and 2 spurs) and the trellis design is classic Vertical Shoot Positioning. The number of buds per cane and per vine retained at pruning is determined every year based on vine vigour the previous season in order to achieve optimal bunch exposure.
Whilst Terre à Terre is not certified organic, very low levels of chemicals are used in the vineyard (Sulfur and Copper).
Hand thinning of bunches and/or leaves are done as required to keep the crop at a reasonable level, and make sure that the canopy remains open.
The grapes are hand harvested and the fruit transported overnight to the Tiers winery in the Piccadilly valley for processing.
Our Wines
Our wines are produced under two labels, namely Down to Earth and Terre à Terre. Meaning the same, but coming from the English and French languages respectively, the two names provide insight into the styles of wines produced under them.
Our Terre à Terre range reflects more traditional, European style winemaking practices and styles; barrel fermentation, large and old oak barrels, a focus on texture and structure.
Correspondingly, our Down to Earth wines reflect more modern styles of winemaking; temperature controlled tank fermentations, less or no oak, preservation of fruit flavours.
While the focus on the two ranges may differ, both of course draw from one another. This reflects global winemaking; "old-world" winemakers continue to innovate and implement modern techniques, and "new-world" producers increasingly look to more traditional methods.
Down to Earth Sauvignon Blanc 2014
The Down to Earth Sauvignon Blanc was first produced in 2012. It is the little brother of our Terre à Terre Sauvignon Blanc (first made in 2008). Part of the Sauvignon Blanc fruit from our single vineyard is used each year to make our Down to Earth Sauvignon Blanc using more modern winemaking techniques (controlled temperature fermentation in stainless steel, ageing in tank on lees).
The style is therefore more "new world" than the "old world" Terre à Terre, fresher and with more fruit flavours.
The Down to Earth Sauvignon Blanc has been included in James Halliday's TOP 100 in 2012 and in 2013, which is a great achievement and acknowledges the great quality of the Sauvignon Blanc fruit from our close spaced single vineyard in Wrattonbully.
Down to Earth Cabernets Shiraz 2013
The Down to Earth Cabernets Shiraz was first produced in 2013. It is the little cousin of our Terre à Terre Cabernet Sauvignon (first made in 2009). It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc (the "Cabernets") and Shiraz, and is made mostly in old oak and a 4,000L old foudre.
The winemaking is very classic and similar to the Terre à Terre Cabernet Sauvignon, but the blend is more New World in style - indeed it is still a crime to blend Shiraz with Cabernet Sauvignon in many famous French AOCs. Given the efforts, both in vineyard and in the winery, that go into making this wine, it represents the best value in our growing Terre à Terre / Down to Earth portfolio.
Terre à Terre Sauvignon Blanc 2008
The Terre à Terre Sauvignon Blanc was the first wine to be produced from our Terre à Terre vineyard in the 2008 vintage. We followed the example of top end Bordeaux and Sancerre producers who still use large old oak to make their white wines (mostly Sauvignon Blanc). The fruit comes off our closed spaced single vineyard, and we use old barriques and demi-muids (600L barrels) and 2 new demi-muids for alcoholic fermentation. The wine is then racked of gross lees back in the same oak, and aged in barrel for 6 to 9 months depending on the vintage, making sure it does not go through malolactic fermentation to preserve its crispness.
The wine has been very well received since the first vintage. We make small volumes each year of this very unique style of what was called Fumé Blanc in the past. Every vintage of this wine displays very unique length and texture, and similar pear and spice flavours. It is one of the only Australian Sauvignon Blancs that can be aged.
Terre à Terre Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
The Terre à Terre Cabernet Sauvignon is produced every year from our 3-hectare Cabernet Block on the western flank of the Terre à Terre single vineyard. Ever since our first vintage in 2009, the fruit from our low-trellised and close-spaced single vineyard has displayed amazing tannin structure which can be tasted in the berries. From the first vintage, we decided to use big oak barrels (foudre) which are used in Barolo to age their high tannin Nebbiolos, and which were also used by Penfolds to make their St Henri wines in the 1970s.
Each year, the harvested fruit is fermented in stainless steel Potter fermenters, including cold maceration, for a total period of 3 to 4 weeks. The must is then pressed off skins and racked into barrels for malolactic fermentation, before being racked to 4,000L French oak foudre. The wine is aged in oak for a total period of 18-24 months, depending on the vintage.
The Terre à Terre Cabernet Sauvignon always displays very unique oak characters that mellow the edges of the very structured wine. The flavours are typical of Limestone Coast Cabernet Sauvignon, with cassis (blackcurrant) and spices. We anticipate that the wine will age very well in the long term.