Paralian
McLaren Vale, South Australia
Paralian is the long awaited, and much lauded, project of Skye Salter and Charlie Seppelt, who between them have amassed over 50 vintages around the world at names including Chave, Dublère, Château Giscours and Shaw + Smith.
Launched in 2018, it was not until 2022 that they were able to crush over 10 tonnes, allowing Skye to leave her previous role at Willunga 100 and focus on Paralian full time.
The goal of Paralian is focus on, and shine a light on, distinguished sites throughout McLaren Vale.
The winemaking is traditional and gentle. The red wines are made in 133-year-old wax-lined concrete fermenters, with a portion of whole bunches, and are hand plunged and foot trod over relatively long natural ferments. The wines were raised in French puncheons, with little or no new oak. The chardonnay is barrel fermented, employing less than 20 per cent new oak.
“We are looking towards modernity with our style, high fragrance, brightness and above all, drinkability at an early stage with the potential to be cellared. Great wines are great when they’re young and great when they’re aged. It’s not a complex ideal… but to do less is to do more. A lot more thought has gone into the shaping of these wines than in a more commercial world… one we are both well versed in.”
“The seaside nature of their location affects the wines and the lifestyle, with a focus on lifted and ethereal styles of grenache and shiraz from Blewitt Springs.”– Jane Lopes and Jonathan Ross MW, ‘How to Drink Australian’.
Paralian Bowyer Ridge Vineyard Chardonnay 2022
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Region: Adelaide Hills
Soil: Mica Schist
Grape/Cepage: Chardonnay
Farming: Sustainable Certified
ABV: 13%
Vegan
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Hand-picked fruit, whole bunch pressed, the free run only was drained and fermented in French oak barrels - 19% new, majority in larger 500L puncheons. 100% wild ferment, left on lees in barrel for partial malolactic fermentation while stirring regularly to build texture. Vegan Friendly.
Winemakers Skye Salter and Charlie Seppelt have certainly set a high bar here, with a cracking Adelaide Hills Chardonnay brimming with youthful energy. The wine shows a nice degree of ripeness, with grapefruit, melon, and white peach all on show. The acid runs freely through the wine, giving it length and keeping it tight through to the finish. In this way it displays the best of both worlds in its primary fruit to acid freshness ratio. Overall, there is a great hum of energy here and the wine is set up nicely to be drunk now or over the coming few years. - Ches Cook, LC Selections.
Paralian Marmot Vineyard Grenache 2022
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Region: McLaren Vale
Soil: Holcene Sand
Grape/Cepage: Grenache
Farming: Dry Grown
ABV: 14%
Vegan
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Hand-picked fruit, wild-fermented in a 133-year-old wax lined concrete open fermenter, 19% whole bunch, remainder of fruit destemmed whole berry on top. Gentle cap management with daily hand plunges with the occasional pump over during the peak of ferment over a period of 16-days on skins. Whole bunches were hand squeezed at zero Baume to release the beautiful aromatic carbonic ferment characters back into the wine. Wine was matured on lees for 10 months in a 16-year-old 2600L French oak foudre. Vegan Friendly.
Candied red fruit with darker tones below the surface. Texturally it is very fine yet still has that sandy, gritty feel that I often see in high quality Grenache. It’s beautifully elegant and fragrant, yet with an undercurrent of burl and a wild edge to it. Chris notes that the 19% whole bunch is used “for flavour, purity, perfume and tannin”. – Ches Cook, LCSelections.
Paralian Springs Hill Vineyard Shiraz 2022
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Region: Blewitt Springs
Soil: Holocene Sand
Grape/Cepage: Shiraz
Farming: Dry Grown, Sustainable Certified
ABV: 14%
Vegan
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Hand-picked fruit, wild-fermented in a 134-year-old wax lined concrete open fermenter, 20% whole bunch (foot trodden for tannin extraction from ripe rachis), remainder destemmed. Cold soaked for 5 days, plunged and pumped over during peak of ferment, 10 days on skins. Wine was matured on lees for 10 months in French oak, 20% new. Vegan Friendly.
A medium bodied, fresh, and vibrant Shiraz that holds a more burly and meaty edge where plenty of interest exists. Like the Grenache, there is an untamed character to this wine which I find really attractive. Very good acidity which, in part, lends itself to drawing out the flavours long into the distance. – Ches Cook, LC Selections.
Paralian Springs Hill Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2022
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Region: Blewitt Springs
Soil: Holocene Sand
Grape/Cepage: Cabernet Sauvignon
Farming: Dry Grown, Certified Sustainable
ABV: 13.5%
Vegan
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Hand-picked, fully destemmed and crushed cold to a wax lined, 134yr concrete open fermenter. Mixed once daily until indigenous ferment commenced then two pump overs a day until dryness. Two weeks on skins, pressed to tank for sugar dryness, then racked to a mix of barriques, hogsheads and puncheons, 23% new oak for 11 months. One rack and return off gross lees post malo. Vegan Friendly.
A love of ‘old school claret’ drew Skye and Charlie to making this wine, and they seem to have achieved such a style. Like all of their wines, this is only medium bodied (with much less muscle compared to some of their neighbours) and quite finely grained, texturally. It has a core of blue fruit with a nice bay leaf component with fresh acidity and grippy tannin to close. – Ches Cook, LC Selections.
