Courage to Create Cri de Coeur

"Wine is like life," wrote Ned Goodwin MW - reviewer and wine writer for the James Suckling Wine Ratings website.

"One fossicks through the drudgery to get to the beauty and when it appears... it demands a yelp of thanks. So it is, when this triumvirate arrives from Crittenden Wines."

Ned goes on to say online:
"Very few producers had the courage and flight of fancy to think long term and outside of the box.

Rollo Crittenden, the winemaker at Crittenden Estate in Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, was an exception.

His assistant winemaker, Matt Campbell, had experienced Vin Jaune on a trip to the Jura years before. In 2011, he decided to take a barrel of his misbegotten savagnin and leave it untopped and unsulfured.

Intuitively, the flor surface yeast, or “voile” (veil) as it is known in the Jura, began to cover the wine.

This facilitated a biological aging process under the aegis of the yeast, prompting kaleidoscopic complexities of cheese cloth, curry powder, salted nuts, camomile and aldehydes, not dissimilar to Japanese radish, that the Crittrenden Cri de Coeur Savagnin has become known for.

Crittenden calls the genesis of the Cri de Coeur “one of the greatest mistakes that has ever happened to us.” Tasting the 2018, I couldn’t agree more. The wine is invariably brilliant, although the 2018 feels weightier and more viscous, perhaps, than years past. It should age very well over the course of a decade to 15 years.

Crittenden also crafts a Macvin, currently the forth iteration, or #4 as it is labeled.

This is a gently fortified style that also draws on the heritage of the Jura. The wine is crafted with savagnin that is aged for four years under flor before being sweetened with savagnin juice and fortified to 17 percent. It boasts a similar flavor profile to the Cri de Coeur with an additional hint of brulee.

You can read more about what Ned has to say here www.jamessuckling.com/wine-tasting-reports