Tasting Notes 🍷

🔹 Appearance – Dense crimson hue with great clarity, reflecting its bold and vibrant nature.

🔹 Aroma – Aromatics of rose hip, licorice, black jube, and a touch of spice greet the nose.

🔹 Palate – On the palate, a delicious mix of blueberry fruits, dark plums, and raspberry is balanced with savoury tannins. The wine’s complexity is supported by subtle hints of vanilla.

🔹 Finish – A long and lingering finish that showcases the wine’s full fruit expression and smooth, mouthwatering tannins.

Winemaking ℹ️

🔹 Estate Grown – Fruit sourced from the Cameron block in the spectacular hillside vineyard of the Ferguson Valley, planted in 2009.

🔹 Handcrafted – The wine is fermented in open-top fermenters, with hand plunging twice daily, ensuring optimal extraction of flavours and tannins.

🔹 Spice & Minerality – The winemaking process encourages deep structures, with a focus on spice and minerality to add complexity.

Serving Temperature ℹ️

🔹 Ideal – 16-18°C

🔹 Why – This slightly cooler temperature allows the vibrant fruit and savoury tannins to shine, highlighting the wine’s complexity.

🔹 How – If being stored at room temperature (22c) place in the fridge for about 45 minutes prior to serving.

🔹 Result – At this temperature, the wine’s full range of flavours—fruit, spice, and tannin—will be perfectly balanced, making each sip enjoyable.

Perfect Pairings ℹ️

🔹 Grilled Meats – A perfect match for grilled lamb or steak, as the wine’s vibrant fruit and savoury tannins complement the richness of the meat.

🔹 Rich Stews – Ideal with hearty stews, where the depth of flavour in the Tempranillo adds complexity to the dish.

🔹 Cheese – Pairs wonderfully with a variety of cheeses, such as Manchego or aged cheddar, which enhance the wine’s savoury characteristics.

🔹 Spicy Dishes – The wine’s subtle spice works well with dishes that feature mild heat, such as a peppered pork roast or chorizo.

Wine Reviews 🏆

🔹 Halliday – 92 Points – “A delight here. Bright, fresh, sitting in an almost nouveau zone of frisky, crunchy red berry fruitiness, licks of cola, some sarsaparilla spicy-bitter notes, black pepper, and clove highlights. It sits in the palate with vigour and refreshing fruit and spice character captured in a web of silty, fine-grained tannins. It’s such a pleasure to drink and so easy to do so too. A chill wouldn’t go astray if you’re feeling frisky.”

🔹 Mike Bennie – “Distinctive generosity of dark berry fruits with mouthwatering tannins which match perfectly to food.”

FAQ: Wine Terms ❓

🔹 Tannins – Natural compounds in the skin, seeds, and stems of grapes that create structure and a dry sensation on the palate. In this Tempranillo, the tannins are smooth and mouthwatering.

🔹 Fermentation – The process in which yeast converts the sugars in grapes into alcohol. The wine is fermented in open-top fermenters with hand plunging to ensure optimal flavour extraction.

🔹 Minerality – A term used to describe the mineral character in the wine, often contributing a slightly earthy or stony note. This wine has a subtle minerality that enhances its complexity.

A Vibrant and Bold Tempranillo

Willow Bridge Estate Solana Tempranillo 2022 offers a delightful balance of fruit and spice, with smooth tannins and a long, complex finish. Perfect for food pairings or enjoying on its own, it’s a Tempranillo that’s full of character and ready to impress.

Learn About Willow Bridge Estate

Willow Bridge Estate is two hours south of Perth in the Geographe wine region. Located in the Ferguson Valley a pristine piece of land that rises from the coast to form rolling hills, unique to this corner of the world.

Who Owns Willow Bridge Estate? Willow Bridge Estate is family owned and operated by principals Jeff and Vicki Dewar, who bought the picturesque 180-hectare hillside property in 1996.

The vineyard is set high on the western side of the Darling Ranges, with the vines enjoying beautiful views over the coastal plain, and across the tranquil waters of Geographe Bay to Cape Naturaliste.

The Willow Bridge Estate vineyard is situated 25km from the coast in a direct line, benefiting from the refreshing afternoon sea breeze that graces the land during summer. Positioned at an elevation ranging from 230 to 280 meters, the estate enjoys temperatures typically two degrees cooler than those on the coastal plain, akin to the cooler southern reaches of the neighbouring Margaret River wine region.

The Ferguson Valley wine region has an annual rainfall of approximately 914mm, the majority of which—around 80%—occurs over four months during the winter dormancy period of the vines. Summers are characterised by dry, sun-drenched days, fostering a consistency between vintages that is perhaps unmatched in the world of wine.

The estate’s soils, known as “Marri soils” after the majestic Marri eucalyptus trees they often support, have evolved over an impressive two and a half billion years from granite. These soils consist of a well-draining layer of lateritic red gravel and loam overlaying yellow or white clay—a composition highly prized by vignerons in Western Australia.

Established in 1997, the 60 hectares of Willow Bridge Estate vineyards were strategically planted around two hills, offering a full 360° exposure to the sun. Being in a phylloxera-free region, all vines were planted on their own roots, while planting along the ridge line has minimised the risk from spring frosts.

The Wines are produced until the careful guidance of Senior Winemaker – Kim Horton & Assistant Winemaker – Dougal Herd. Both received the 2021 Geographe Wine Show Trophy Excellence in Winemaking.

Read reviews on the Willow Bridge Wine Range Here
Learn more about the Ferguson Wine Region HERE