Serrat Close Planted Shiraz Viognier 2017

Halliday Wine Companion Best Shiraz Viognier of the Year 2019

In 2001, renowned winemaker Tom Carson and his wife Nadège started their boutique family label 'Serrat'. Carson needs no introduction; he was Chief Winemaker of Yering Station for 12 years before moving to Yabby Lake in 2008. The couple's small vineyard, planted mainly to Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Chardonnay, is located on the Yarra Valley floor three kilometres from Yarra Glen. Serrat is a Catalan word meaning 'close-planting', and the vineyard is planted at a density of 8,800 vines/hectare - more than four times the Australian average. Each vine carries only a few bunches and produces around one bottle of wine. Their wines are very special, very limited and highly sought after.  

"Deep crimson; fascinating bouquet - I don't always find the violets that others talk about, but here they go close to challenging the dark cherry/blackberry fruits, and the spiced cracked pepper. The finish is simultaneously slippery, yet gently tactile, refusing to let go."  James Halliday

"This wine is from the Shiraz block planted in 2003 with Viognier from the original 2001 plantings. There are two clones in the block,  Best’s Old Block sourced from the original plantings at Best’s Great Western planted in 1868 and clone 1654, a Barossa selection. The Viognier is from cuttings at Yarra Yering, that l cut personally in 2000, Dr Carodus told me he had personally taken them from Chateau Grillet in Condrieu in the 60’s. Highly illegal at the time and even more so now.."  

Tom Carson, Halliday Wine Companion 2023 Viticulturist of the Year

Expert reviews

"Open-fermented with 5% whole bunches and 5% viognier, 12 days on skins, matured for 11 months in French puncheons (25% new). Deep crimson; fascinating bouquet - I don't always find the violets that others talk about, but here they go close to challenging the dark cherry/blackberry fruits, and the spiced cracked pepper. The finish is simultaneously slippery, yet gently tactile, refusing to let go. Drink by 2037."  James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion - 98 points and Best Shiraz Viognier of the Year 2019 and Special Value Wine  ★

Awards

Halliday Wine Companion Best Shiraz Viognier of the Year 2019
Special Value Wine - Halliday Wine Companion  ★

Tom Carson

Tom Carson is widely regarded as one of the top winemakers in Australia. Tom graduated as winemaker in 1991 and began his career with Tim Knappstein in Clare, where he met his wife Nadège. It was here that Tom discovered the potential for pinot noir in Australia, working with the first two vintages of Lenswood Vineyards Pinot Noir. He then moved to the Yarra Valley, where he worked at Coldstream Hills as assistant winemaker to James Halliday in 1992 and 1993, then Yarra Edge and finally Yering Station in 1996. 

The historic Yering Station was purchased by the Rathbone family in 1996 and is also the site of the Yarrabank joint venture with French Champagne house Devaux. Tom worked at Yering Station for 12 years, helping put the winery on the map and the Rathbone family realise their vision. He produced many outstanding wines from a number of grape varieties during his tenure, but perhaps his greatest success was the creation of the Reserve Shiraz Viognier, which swept all before it in wine competitions in the early 2000s. Carson was also named 'International Winemaker of the Year' at the 2004 International Wine and Spirit Competition in London.

During the first stages of his career Carson also worked five vintages in France, three in Burgundy and a couple in Champagne. These included vintage at Champagne Devaux in 1996 and vintage at Burgundy with Bernard Moreau in Chassagne Montrachet in 2000. Carson said what he learnt in Burgundy was "respect for the land and the vineyard. The time-honoured wealth of knowledge in Burgundy is something you can't pick up in a four week vintage. It comes from generations of farming.  But it puts some perspective on what we're doing in Australia. We can't rush it.”

In 2002, Tom was named the Dux of the Len Evans Tutorial. "There have been many impressive performances at the Len Evans Tutorials which would have impressed even the great man himself – whose palate memory was legendary. But Tom Carson's feat at the second tutorial in 2002 is probably the stand-out. He correctly identified the six Domaine de la Romanée-Conti grand cru vineyards blind, a feat that was all the more impressive as every wine was from a different vintage."  Huon Hooke, The Real Review.

This event also marked the beginning of Carson's wine judging career. He become the youngest Chairman to preside at The National Wine Show in Canberra and over the years has judged at a number of capital city and regional shows. He is currently Chairman of the Royal Melbourne Wine Awards.

In 2008, Tom Carson left Yering Station and was appointed General Manager and Chief Winemaker of Kirby Family Vineyards, owners of Yabby Lake on the Mornington Peninsula. His arrival added lustre to the winery and its wines. Yabby Lake has afforded him the perfect opportunity to explore his passion for chardonnay and pinot noir, and under his helm, Yabby Lake has scaled new heights with these two Burgundy grape varieties. One of his major claims to fame was in 2013 when he became the first winemaker to win the coveted Jimmy Watson trophy at the Melbourne Wine Show with a pinot noir, the 2012 Yabby Lake Block 1 Pinot Noir.

While working on his day jobs over the years at Yering Station and Yabby Lake, Carlson managed to find time to start his own wine Yarra Valley label Serrat. He and his wife Nadège planted their first hectare with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Viognier in 2001, followed by a second block of Shiraz in 2003. Further plantings of a range of varietals took place in 2007, 2010, 2016 and 2017. James Halliday awarded the 2014 Serrat Shiraz Viognier his Wine of the Year in 2014 and it would be fair to say that the Serrat yearly release is one of the most anticipated events in the wine calendar for wine cognoscenti. In addition, Carson was named the 2023 Halliday Wine Companion Awards Viticulturist of the Year, an award that celebrates the individual whose wines in that year's Companion most fully exemplify best practices in the vineyard. 

About the winery

Tom Carson needs no introduction. He was Chief Winemaker of Yering Station for 12 years before being appointed General Manager & Chief Winemaker of Kirby Family Vineyards, owners of Yabby Lake and Heathcote Estate in 2008. In 2001, Tom and his wife Nadège started their own venture at Serrat, planting 2.5 acres of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Viognier and Grenache vines on the Yarra Valley floor three kilometres from Yarra Glen. Tom describes the site as ideal, "a lovely little amphitheatre of north and east facing slopes in the central part of the Valley."  

Nadège was groomed to take over the family vineyard in the southern France appellation of Banyuls. After completing winemaking and wine marketing degrees, she came to Australia for a vintage in 1990 and never quite made it back. 

In 2003, a second block of 1.6 acres was planted with Shiraz and in 2007, a further planting of Mendoza Chardonnay was completed. In 2010, another acre was planted with an eclectic mix of Nebbiolo, Barbera, Malbec and Grenache Noir. In 2016, they planted the first Grenache Blanc vines in Victoria. Lastly, in 2017, an additional acre of Nebbiolo and Shiraz was planted.

Today they have 8.9 acres of vines planted, with 3.0 acres of Pinot Noir, 2.0 acres of Shiraz, 1.5 acres of Chardonnay, 1.0 acre of Grenache, 0.7 acres of Nebbiolo and 0.7 acres in total of Barbera, Grenache Blanc and Malbec. The soils are grey to grey brown clays with buckshot gravels evenly dispersed through the topsoil. The subsoil is red-brown clay impregnated with ancient deteriorated mudstones. 

Tom and Nadège's aim is to truly reflect the potential of the vineyard site in their wine. Serrat is a Catalan word meaning 'close-planting', and the vineyard is planted at a density of 8,800 vines/hectare - more than four times the Australian average. Each vine carries only a few bunches and produces around one bottle of wine. "This is not a new vineyard management concept, but the way that the great vineyards of Europe have been managed for hundreds of years," says Tom, "but it is a lot more work!"

For Tom, viticulture is everything when it comes to making great wine. "We believe that less crop per vine produces better balanced, more intense and higher quality fruit and therefore higher quality wine," he says. By close planting, Tom, his wife Nadège, and fellow vigneron Kate Thurgood ensure they’re still using the land productively.

"At Serrat, we do everything we can to produce the best possible fruit, grab it at the right moment and then do our best in the winery to make it all come together. We’re always here doing it. Everything. It’s day to day, every day." It’s all about minimal intervention and trusting their intuition, given the team’s decades of experience.