Alkimi 'Light Dreams' 2023

Toffee apple
Dried red currant
Disco Stu

A Merlot base which was wholebunch fermented (naturally) for 7 days. After pressing Chardonnay was blended with the fermenting juice. Also at this time other varieties were added which included Pinot Gris, Marsanne, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and others in small amounts. After fermentation the wine was left alone and bottled in September 2023. No tinkering or additions were made.

Dudine graduated with a wine science degree from Charles Sturt University in 2010, with his very first vintage coming in 2006. Stints at Henschke, Yarra Yering, Mac Forbes and overseas, in Piedmont, Austria’s Wachau and importantly the Rhône Valley – both north, in Côte-Rôtie, and south, in Châteauneuf-du-Pape – have had a big impact on his outlook and helped the direction he took when making his first Alkimi wines, which were made from the 2014 vintage, just a few months after Dudine returned from France.

All the wines are un-fined, naturally stabilised and mostly unfiltered, with Dudine noting that he likes to keep things “technologically very simple” in the winery. “I prefer to sculpt wines using the magic of great sites, good picking decisions and very diligent winemaking. I also have a range of wines called No Additions. This range is exactly that: no additions are made to these wines, including no sulphur dioxide.”