Stefano Lubiana Wines

About this winery

Established in 1990, Stefano Lubiana Wines is a family-owned company focused upon producing small quantities of handcrafted wines from grape to glass in Tasmania’s cool maritime climate.

Fifth-generation winemaker Steve Lubiana and his wife Monique chose Granton, 20 km north of Hobart, as the location for their family’s vineyard after years of searching mainland Australia for a suitable site.

Overlooking a broad expanse of river estuary in the beautiful Derwent Valley, our property provides a home to a modern, 300-tonne winery and 25ha of vines. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were first planted here in 1991. Various expansions over the years have added Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Nebbiolo. Our most recent additions comprise 7ha of Pinot Noir, established in 2010.

Granton’s latitude of 43 degrees South enables our vineyard to enjoy full sun exposure in daylight hours. Vines are laid out in north-facing rows on gently undulating hillside slopes that lie within close proximity of the river. These slopes rise gradually to a point approximately 100 metres above sea level, offering excellent cold air drainage and frost protection during the critical growing and ripening seasons of spring and autumn.

The river itself provides a wonderful moderating influence on our vineyard's mesoclimate. Having a large body of water adjacent to our vines helps moderate large changes in air temperature, keeping things cool during the heat of summer and warm during spring's first flush of new growth.

Our property has a wide variety of soil types. All are low in basic nutrients and water-retentive qualities. On our vineyard’s upper slopes, a thin layer of fine silty / gravelly loam dominates, offering a micro-environment that is readily suited to red grape varieties. On the lower slopes, a layer of well-drained coarse gravel features prominently. Its capacity for heat accumulation encourages early vine activity and the onset of budburst during the first weeks of spring. We believe these lower slopes are ideally suited to growing white wine varieties.

The Derwent Valley’s mild, largely maritime climate - characterised by many clear summer and autumn days - helps to optimise sugar accumulation and flavour development in our vineyard, and results in reliable yields of high quality wine grapes.

Typically, our berries and bunches at harvest are small but rich in varietal aromas and flavours. The sequence of warm days and mild nights throughout late summer and early autumn builds natural grape sugars while preserving life-giving acidity in our fruit. A diversity of clonal material planted across the vineyard encourages complexity in aroma and flavour profiles.

All viticultural methods used on our site are labour intensive. Pruning, vertical shoot positioning, leaf-plucking, bird netting, and fruit picking are all carried out by human hands.

Roseworthy College graduate Steve Lubiana and his vineyard team - led by Mark Hoey - manage our vineyard according to the biodynamic principles first outlined by Rudolf Steiner in 1924.

These allow us to maintain and enhance the unique features of our vineyard environment, by combining traditional farming practices – such as recycling, composting, and cover cropping – with a carefully scheduled use of natural homeopathic preparations that enhance each vine’s capacity to maintain good health and combat disease. Animals play a key role in biodynamics. We keep dogs, chickens and miniature sheep on our vineyard to assist us with pest and weed management.

Harvesting takes place only when our fruit has achieved the optimum flavour spectrum needed for winemaking. This can occur anytime between early March and mid May, according to grape variety, wine style, and seasonal factors.

Before winemaking commences, all fruit picked in the vineyard undergoes rigorous inspection via the use of a mechanical sorting table located at the winery. Fruit that is rejected contributes to a large, on-site biodynamic composting program. Winery waste – including packaging and grape skins – also contributes to the composting program.

Our property boasts a modern, well-equipped, state-of-the-art winery. This is conveniently located where it is needed most – right by the vineyard. Steve and his assistant Pat Colombo believe that winemaking is as much an art as it is a science. Whether 'hands on' or 'hands off', our winemaking regime always limits the use of additives and preservatives to the barest minimum.

Stefano Lubiana Wines is well known for pushing the boundaries of winemaking in Tasmania. We are always keen to explore new and innovative methods of extracting maximum aroma, flavour and texture in our wines. We regularly experiment with yeasts (wild and/or inoculated) and use whole bunch and/or barrel fermentation methods where appropriate.

In May 2010, former International Wine Writer of the Year and renowned UK wine critic Andrew Jefford included Stefano Lubiana Wines in a list of Australia’s 10 bravest winemakers... ‘willing to challenge the status quo when it comes to their country's wine and its future… Their wines accurately, uncompromisingly and sometimes beautifully reflect their origins. They are like nothing else on earth.’ Decanter, May 2010.

Steve Lubiana is seen as a talented and well respected industry professional by his peers. He is a founding member, board member and director of the State's peak wine industry body, Wine Tasmania.

High resolution jpegs, suitable for publication, can be downloaded from http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefano_lubiana_wines/.

Specialties

All wines in the Stefano Lubiana Wines portfolio are grown and made with the utmost attention to detail, and are widely regarded as benchmark, cool climate Tasmanian wines.

Our bottle-fermented sparkling wines and estate-grown Pinot Noirs invariably figure in the Wine Companion's Best by Style categories.

In September 2010, the wines of Stefano Lubiana were showcased in the sparkling and Pinot Noir masterclasses held during Wine Australia's celebrated 2010 Landmark Australia Tutorial. The five-day tutorial brought together Australia's leading wine professionals and 14 national and international guests, including Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW (eRobertParker.com).

Purchase our Wines

Stocklist

Download the latest stocklist - SLW product availability_winecompanion_0811.pdf

Distribution Information

The wines of Stefano Lubiana have very limited availability throughout Australia. They are best purchased direct from the vineyard cellar door or online via our secure payment facility at www.slw.com.au.

Small quantities of wine are also available nationally at selected on-premise sites and fine wine stores. Please contact our distributors for further details:

Hobart -- Australian Liquor Marketers -- Tel: (03) 6274 4000
Hobart -- David Johnstone and Associates -- Tel: (03) 6234 9999
Melbourne -- CellarHand Wine Distribution -- Tel: (03) 8415 1120
Sydney -- deja vu Wine Company -- Tel: (02) 9499 6121
Brisbane -- Addley Clark Fine Wines -- Tel: (07) 3391 8784
Adelaide -- Decant Wines -- Tel: (08) 7127 7545
Perth -- Liquid Library -- Tel: (08) 9321 5522

Wines purchased via our secure site at www.slw.com.au are delivered by Australia Post. Purchases (min 6 bottles) delivered within Tasmania are freight free. Elsewhere in Australia, a $14 delivery charge per carton applies.

International Sales Information

Very small quantities of our wines are sold into international markets. See our Stockist Information above for further details.