Duck Sauce 'The Don' Pinot Noir 2015

Sometimes it takes not a hero, but a foul-mouthed, rage against the machine, king pin mother ducker of dubious character and rebel heart to liberate a dirty pond. Enter The Don, Duck Sauce’s mafioso pinot uncle. 

He’s the one with the tatts; the one who taught you how to throw a punch, drive a manual and respect your grandma. Because while he may swear like a sailor and look like a scoundrel, he’s a duck of principle and he knows how to treat a lady. Ie; buy her a bottle of top notch juice and say nice things. But not about her hair, or her eyes, though. Say nice things about her as a person. Because women are bad ass mother duckers too. 

Not a duck to take the injustices of the world laying down, he’s the first to get his feathers wet and the last to leave the fray. I want to call him the Robin Hood of Poultry, but he’s got too many bad habits. 

What is the Collaboration Series?

This range is all about celebrating and collaborating with the folk who get their hands dirty. The brightest and most passionate wine lovers out there - the winemakers. These are the people who are on site, vintage in and vintage out, turning grapes into magic. 

And in working with Australia’s most talented winemakers, we are humbled to help see a wine come to life, from seedling to screwcap and everything in between. We’re talking honest and epic vino, from the best in the business. Which in The Don’s case is Upper Yarra legend, Andrew Santarossa..

Made by Andrew Santarossa 

Andrew Santarossa has the biggest smile in the vino business. And his laugh is infectious. And his wine is impeccable. So lovely, it’s almost ironic that he’s the guy behind our brutish anti-hero. But I guess it  just goes to show, ol’ Santarossa is a man of many talents. Complex, interesting, delicious pinot being at the top of the list. 

Working his Langbrook Vineyard like a vinous prodigy, Andrew is renowned for bringing the Upper Yarra to life in the glass. Head wine judge, pinot perfectionist and all-round good guy, we’re stoked to have had him on board for The Don. Like, really bloody stoked. 

The Process

When we set out to make this premium pinot, the Upper Yarra was always our dream site. It’s a region known for producing parcels of on-point pinot that are consistently flavoursome and seriously elegant. And the 2015 vintage was no exception. 

The winter was cold. Like, real cold. And wet. But that just meant the vineyard soils were super moist (soz, ‘moist’ is the worst, hey). The cool spring delivered a stellar growing season and the warm summer days brought with them rad vine health and some serious flava-flav development. 

From these conditions, The Don was then born out of traditional winemaking techniques, which included cold-soaking (for maximum colour extraction), a 17-day fermentation (for deliciousness) and maturation in fine-grained French oak (for complexity). We even took the ‘Fo team out to the vineyard and got involved in a little foot-stomping ourselves. In fact, we were involved in much of the process. Under the guidance of Andrew, our wine buyers helped pick, stomp, blend and taste this baby to perfection. 

The Wine 

Did someone say single vineyard pinot? Hell yeah, we did. 100% sourced from Santarossa’s Langbrook Vineyard, The Don will smack you in the face with aromas of intense raspberry, dark cherry and black spice before bringing you under his wing with a long, slinky palate. 

Super complex (is he a hero? Is he a villain?) with fine tannins, The Don is going to stick around the hood for the next 8-12 years. This boss is not here to mess around, mofos. 

The Inspiration

The Don holds a tugboat-ful of meaning for us. And for our Art Director, Adsy, most especially. If you look at the details, the label tells the Vinomofo story; our journey from a disruptive little punk ass retailer to a tribe that’s genuinely holding its own. We know we act the kid, but deep down (not even that deep down, we pretty much wear it on our sleeve) we give a shit. 

We’re proud of poking the bear, and the sleeping giant, and the elephant in the room. We wanna poke everything that’s archaic or unjust or downright boring, and bring about a little change in this industry. Good wine and good vibes for everyone. Cheers to that.