CRFT Wines (pronounced croft) was founded in 2012 by winemakers Candice Helbig and Frewin Ries. Sourcing fruit from 10 single vineyards across the Adelaide Hills and Barossa Valley, they make wines from established varietals and relative newcomers. Indeed CRFT are pioneers of Mencia and Gruner Veltliner, their’s unsurpassed in Australia.
CRFT displays the diversity of the Adelaide Hills wine region beautifully, the wines made traditionally and as naturally as possible, sulphur, the only addition. Vineyard definition is key here and the best way to taste the wines is together – to note the very real differences, even though in some cases the vineyards are separated by only a few metres.
CRFT Longview Gruner Veltliner 2022
Aromatic hedonism. Classic Gruner notes of apricot, sage, yellow peach, cherry, honeysuckle and sunflowers. Rich, full bodied and unctuous, literally a white wine you can sink your teeth into. Gruner’s wild complexity and textural delight are on full display here with grapefruit, blood orange, pithy zesty lime, cream, savoury spice and passionfruit. Texturally luxurious; woolly almost, becoming chewier and holding the palate for minutes. Imperious stuff.
CRFT K1 Vineyard Gruner Veltliner 2022
It’s odd how different CRFT’s three wines are, all classic Gruner Veltliners, yet all entirely different. The K1 is cooler, more discreet, sleek and linear in shape, without the ample bosom of the Longview. Reticent aromatics take a little coaxing, before revealing white peach, melon, mint and apricot. Spicy, salty palate, very fine and sleek, spearing across the mouth. Tropical notes, with melon, pawpaw, plum, aniseed and fennel. Such a measured and aristocratic wine with a fine sandy texture and gentle persistent acidity.
CRFT Arranmore Gruner Veltliner 2022
The signature Gruner Veltliner from CRFT, due to its layered flavours, textures and display of the variety’s multifaceted possibilities. Very complex aromatics of nougat, smoke, mushroom, tinned peach, pear, honeysuckle and spring jasmine. Incredible power and, as usual, great width across the palate. What’s interesting, and we haven’t seen this before in the Arranmore, is its coiled, compact and very tense. For all that it’s silky and creamy, with fine subtle clove spice, aniseed, red cherry, orange, white peach and ginger. The most texturally complex of the wines, without a doubt, and very fine with it too. A wine of light and shade. Sleek, broad shouldered, yet linear, precise and with a huge structure. A Gruner Veltliner for the ages and a new benchmark for the variety in Australia.
