Serrat’s 2025 vintage release is a special one for Tom and Nadège Carson. On top of the spectacular growing season, which “provided a welcome return to both quality and quantity after four much smaller crops,” it marks 25 years since they established their Yarra Valley vineyard, and 20 since they released the first Serrat wines.
Tom and Nadège’s vision for Serrat has always been clear: to produce wines that reflect the potential of their site. As the name indicates – Serrat is the Catalonian word for this practice – a lot of this has been achieved through high-density planting. Today, the 3.6ha vineyard, just outside the Yarra Glen township, is planted to chardonnay, pinot noir, grenache, grenache blanc, shiraz, viognier, nebbiolo and malbec, at a density of 6600 vines per hectare.
“It’s a pretty basic philosophy,” Tom says. “Get it right in the vineyard – low crops, balanced canopies – and bring the site to life through sensitive winemaking: wild yeast, gentle handling, large oak maturation, minimal additions, and no fining, light or filtration.
“Hopefully the wines reflect this simple approach, and are detailed, precise, silky and beautifully balanced, but with tension, presence and personality.”
There are nine wines in the 2025 vintage release. Six are from the estate range, including the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Shiraz Viognier, Grenache Noir, Nebbiolo and Grenache Blanc. The remaining three, from the Autres Terres (French for ‘other terroir’) range, are the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Steve Sadlier’s Nenagh Park vineyard, and the Tasmania Pinot Noir, made in collaboration with Jim Chatto.
The Serrat wines are released in four stages. Tier one, reserved for the approximately 250 customers who’ve purchased regularly for 10 or more years, has first access. The 500 or so on tier two, who’ve purchased regularly for between five and 10 years, receive their allocation next. Tier three is for the newer customers. And the final release – for the ’25s, this will be on 23 July – is to the wait list (over 2500) and general public.
“The aim with this system has always been to recognise and reward our long-term supporters while still giving newer customers the opportunity to support Serrat,” Nadège explains. “Looking after the people who have supported us has always been more important to us than following the market trend,” she adds, to explain why prices for their wines have only nominally increased over the years.
As well as the 2025 vintage wines, Tom and Nadège are planning on releasing a small quantity of museum bottlings to mark the milestones.
“Twenty-five years ago, we planted a vineyard hoping to make wines we would be proud of,” Nadège says. “Twenty years ago, we released our first bottles. Looking back now, what we're probably proudest of is that so many of the people who supported us then are still buying and opening Serrat today.”
See how Philip Rich scored the 2025 vintage release below.
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