About
‘Winemaker Owen Latta’s age belies a wealth of experience, making him a deserving winner of the Young Winemaker Medal for his quality Eastern Peake and Latta Vino wines.
Second generation winemaker Owen Latta is the Ballarat kid setting the Australian wine scene on fire. Between the premium wines of Eastern Peake and the more expressive, avant garde releases under his own, eponymous Latta Vino range, Latta has shown his mettle as one of Australia’s most thoughtful and daring winemakers. “ The purity and natural architecture possible from just grapes and skins is something Latta is actively seeking.”
Indeed, there are few people in Australia so adept with lo-fi winemaking, eking out maximum flavour, vitality, freshness and poise, including when no sulphur is added at all. “I am increasingly seeing that long, slow maturation prior to bottling helps no-sulphur wines,” Latta explains. “The purity and natural architecture possible from just grapes and skins is something I am actively seeking in terms of feel, structure and balance.” While Latta’s career has not been long it shows an incredible depth of experience that places him at the apex of winemaking in Australia.’
2024 Ex Nihilo Pinot Gris
Sourced from long term growers the Lacey Family located over Tarrington way in far south west Victoria. The site was stablished in the late 90s which produces Fantastic Pinot Gris, Chardonnay & Pinot Noir. Season 2024 was excellent, this is one of the best Gris's to date! (As a side note, when the Pinot Gris here was planted the variety was still considered an alternative varietal on the Australian wine scene. The Laceys were contract growers of Pinot Gris for a large wine brand seeking out perfect sites in the late 90s amazing to see how far Pinot Gris/Grigio has come in 25 yrs).
With Gris I want to gain as much vibrancy & deliciousness as possible from this light red grape variety, half is whole bunch pressed to produce a textured white & the other half is destemmed for skin contact over a 3-10 days in small open fermenters to gain as much as I can from the fruit without getting too much drying tannins & phenolics. All of the wine is fermented & raised in various casks of 228, 300, 500, 600L 1500L formats, plus stainless, Left to rest for 9 months on full lees undisturbed, it’s then racked & estate bottled. A small amount of Sulphur added prior to bottling.
2021/23 _____siq__ Blanc Ouillé Chardonnay
Hard to believe that it’s over a decade of producing wine under Latta. It still only feels like yesterday I was tinkering around with little wine projects in the cellar (not much has changed...). Here we have two projects that have been hanging out in the cellar waiting for a destination, both wines seemed to complement each other so here we have the "Baby Jurassique" Siq
Super Textured, extended lees contact, great natural acidity, low sulphur, salty, vinous, oxidative handling, boundary pushing.
The 2021 fruit for this wine is grown on lovely red volcanic soils next door to Eastern Peake in Coghills Creek, on my uncles old vineyard we used to lease.
The 2023 component is from Moonambel off 1980 plantings.
Chardonnay was harvested at just over 12 baumé, whole bunch pressed on a long slow cycle in the pneumatic press, transferred to 228 & 300L French & Austrian casks, indigenous yeasts, barrels are topped up on a more relaxed schedule to gaining some oxidative/texture. 24 months in barrel (Coghills Creek) & 12 months for the Moonambel portion, full malo, full lees contact with no interference, once racked from barrel both wines spent extended time in stainless. assembled & bottled October 2024.
Winefront Review by Mike Bennie
Posted on 15 December 2024
"From Western Victoria. Sees extended lees contact and intentional oxidative handling.
Day one and I was in a few minds about the wine, lemon balm, sour yoghurt, dried apple, sea spray, but a little out of balance and the edgy, sour, lactic stuff was a little higher profile. Day two and the cogs and gears in synch – even, flows beautifully, very saline and gently nutty, refreshing green apple and a touch of tonic water. It’s a charismatic drink, with time on its side."
91 Points
2024 Rattlesnake Contact Blanc
Fun! Wild ideas & Experimental batches. An opposite direction to terroir, the usual mindset in this cellar! Classic varieties being pushed to see what new personalities we can get out of them. Great vineyards also play a big role here to back up the texture, fruit & acid profiles.
Rattlesnake each year is made up of many different skin contact ferments, riesling, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris & Grenache, all seem to work harmoniously together to produce a madly delicious, quenching, exotic skin contact wine that punches above and delivers time & time again.
Winefront Review by Mike Bennie
Posted on 28 December 2024
"A neat little infographic on the back label lets us know that this is about a third viognier, a third riesling, then the other third is a blend of sauvignon blanc, pinot gris and grenache. Various regimes of skin contact are employed across the varieties. Four different vineyards are used as sources. The resulting wine is ‘an opposite direction to terroir’, offers Owen Latta, and more about the application of winemaking to make a style.
It’s a supple and lightly chalky, almost medium-bodied white wine of curious, distinct, unusual but very pleasing and refreshing aromas and flavours. A mix of just-ripe red berry, just ripe pineapple, salted crackers, mandarin, preserved lemon, barley sugar water going on. Good energy to this wine, the sum of parts makes for interest, not necessarily complexity, but it’s a vibrant and thirst-quenching style. The x-factor of that textural dryness really pleasing. Great drinking ensues."
91 Points
2024 WHAT-A-MELON
Experimental Batches make up this wine each year, fun to make fun to drink. Syrah from the Saddle Back vineyard grown organically by Cory Hope in the Pyrenees harvested once flavour hits the full ripeness required, Sangiovese component is grown by the Camfield’s in Moonambel Pyrenees, Nebbiolo grown by the John Family in Landsborough Pyrenees & finally Pinot Noir grown by us at home base in Coghills Creek. All batches were all whole bunch pressed fermented on full solids & left to rest on full lees for 9 months, blended then domaine bottled once ready.
Winefront Review by Mike Bennie
Posted on 30 December 2024
"This is ‘the full use of my colour palette to produce a fun yet serious textured wine’, offers Owen Latta’s note. A blend of syrah, grenache, nebbiolo, shiraz, pinot noir, pinot gris, with all the batches pressed off as is and left on lees. The resulting wine sits nicely in a rosé zone, with texture a highlight, for sure.
Almost laser-like in its feel, precise and tightly wound with fine, silty grip, a fine sheath of saline minerality with a general sense of just ripe red berry fruitiness, and, of course, watermelon (granita!). It’s such a thirst quenching and pleasingly (lightly) juicy wine, energetic, easy to drink but with plenty of detail in its fruit, spice, mineral character. What-a-treat!"
93 Points
2021 Quality Release Grenache
I've always taken sangiovese & cabernet sauvignon from the shays flat site when permitted. So when the grenache became available it was very exciting to be able to produce grenache from such a beautifully well farmed vineyard. Farmed by cory hope all certified organic. About 15% whole bunch, basket pressed after a week & a bit, élevage for 12 months in 228l & 500l casks, zero so2. It's a pretty serious wine with loads of detail, a very fine expression of shays flat. Such a quality release.
2022 ILLUSTRIOUS Sangiovese
The Shays Flat vineyard is an iconic part of the LATTAvino journey, its were the story for this little negociant wine project all started. Way back in 2007 I was working vintage in the pyrenees where some Sangiovese arrived in the winery for processing, it was from the Landsborough Valley a place mostly know for shiraz. I’d only ever really worked closely with Pinot Noir & Chardonnay from our own vineyard Eastern Peake, so it was a real pleasure to see this beautiful fruit, so different so interesting.
In 2010 I reached out to see if I could buy a little of this Sangiovese which was now owned by Chapouiter and farmed organically, I continued to work with the site bootlegging the wines off to friends & family when the decision was made to get a lot more serious. 2013 was the linchpin vintage to Launch the Latta Label with this Sangiovese & a collection of other single site wines. A revolution was taking place within the wine industry to move away from conventional farming & using less in the cellar, fresh eyes & warm hearts I was totally all in on becoming part of the movement.
The vineyard is located at Shays Flat in the Western end of the Victorian Pyrenees ranges, deep in the Landsborough Valley the site sits at 350m altitude on an east facing ridge with the southern foothills of the valley making way for a natural amphitheatre.
1.5 hectares of Sangiovese was planted in early 2000 on deep red soils containing a mixture of shattered quartz, schist, ironstone & rich clays. Cool diurnal nights from the continental climate allow a long ripening period holding perfect acidity, gentle sugar development & complex flavour profile.
Destemmed over 10% whole bunch, pump over twice a day, 2 weeks in Open concrete fermenters, basket pressed, Elevage in 500L puncheons & 228L. A very long Malo lactic fermentation took 12 months to complete.indigenous yeasts, estate bottled after 6 months in tank (two Winters to relax) small amount of sulphur. This has been a dream to produce, drinking so well right now but will cellar for many yrs ahead.
(Image: Latta Vino - www.lattavino.com.au)