Winemaker Notes
Peppery nose, herby and fragrant with a beautiful violet aroma. In the mouth there’s a great combination of crunchy fruit, gentle tannin, defined acid and floral complexity. Light as a feather and a joy to drink.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From a vineyard planted in 1985, and made with only whole clusters, Ochota's 2019 The Price of Silence Gamay is stemmy, herbal and tea-like on the nose, but ripe black cherries take over on the palate, giving this medium-bodied effort a ripe, silky and round feel, with a long, mouthwatering finish. It's an immensely attractive wine, but it may well be the last vintage, as the vineyard burned in the fires that swept through portions of the Adelaide Hills in December 2019.
Delightfully playful, but also capable of impressive gravitas, Gamay is responsible for juicy, berry-packed wines. From Beaujolais, Gamay generally has three classes: Beaujolais Nouveau, a decidedly young, fruit-driven wine, Beaujolais Villages and Cru Beaujolais. The Villages and Crus are highly ranked grape growing communes whose wines are capable of improving with age whereas Nouveau, released two months after harvest, is intended for immediate consumption. Somm Secret—The ten different Crus have their own distinct personalities—Fleurie is delicate and floral, Côte de Brouilly is concentrated and elegant and Morgon is structured and age-worthy.
A narrow band of hills and valleys east of the city of Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills region is a diverse landscape featuring a variety of microclimates. In general it is moderate with high-altitude areas cooler and wetter compared to its warmer, lower areas.
Piccadilly Valley, the part of Adelaide Hills closest to the city, was first staked out by a grower named Brian Croser, in the 1970s for a cool spot to grow Chardonnay, then uncommon in Australia. Today a good amount of the Chardonnay goes to winemakers outside of the region.
Producers here experiment with other cool-climate loving aromatic varieties like Pinot Gris, Viognier and Riesling. Charming sparkling wine is also possible. On its north side, lower, west-facing slopes make full-bodied Shiraz.