2022 Eastern Peake Persuasion Rosé
WINEMAKER: Owen Latta
REGION: Ballarat, VIC
VARIETY: Syrah
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
This November we celebrate 40 years of Eastern Peake, quite the milestone, where did all this time go?! With the upcoming celebrations, we thought it’d be super fun to dip into the back catalogue to grab some inspiration from past releases.The label you can see here takes inspiration from the 1996 Persuasion (rosé) label, Its hard to imagine now that in the early 1990s Dry, delicious, fresh textured rosé wasn’t all that popular. I’m glad my parents stuck to their guns & a paved the way for me to continue to produce a similar style to this day.
The fruit for this wine is grown by long term friends Frank & Kerry Walsh, directly over the road on the same soil type as Eastern Peake weathered basalt on grey loam. Frank first established with pinot noir in 1995 then a second 1 acre planting in 2003 with Syrah (Clone PT23).
The Syrah was whole bunch pressed, fermented in large format Stockinger Austrian oak with indigenous yeasts, 11 months lees contact, racked, estate bottled. A small amount of sulphur post malo & pre bottling. No fining, filtering or Tinkering. Thoughtfully produced to reflect on where it was grown.
Norm Latta established the Eastern Peake Vineyard back in 1983, first planting eight acres of Pinot Noir, followed by four acres of Chardonnay in the early ‘90s. Situated 25 clicks north-east of Ballarat, and (roughly) 430 metres above sea level, Eastern Peake benefits from the cool continental climate ideal for producing high quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. These days the vineyard and winemaking is the domain of Norm’s son Owen Latta, who in 2018 garnered the prestigious title of Gourmet Traveler Wine Magazine Young Winemaker of the Year.