Region: Adelaide Hills, SA Grapes: Gamay First Glance: Light, Perfumed, Ethereal
The Wine: LEKO Wine is Koerner's Adelaide Hills sister brand and represents ‘Lenswood Koerner’. In 2017 Damon and his wife Maddy bought a property in Lenswood, which is now home to the LEKO winery. The focus of LEKO is working with select vineyards primarily in Piccadilly, Balhannah and Lenswood. They work with varieties suited to the cooler climate including Chardonnay, Savagnin, Gamay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc.
The 2022 Gamay comes from the sandy loam and ironstone soils of the Deanery Vineyard in Balhannah, planted in 2004. All grapes were hand picked and destemmed, with 50% remaining as whole berries. Wild fermentation was carried out in open top steel fermenters and hand plunged twice daily. The ferment spent 10 days on skins before being pressed off to French Hogsheads for 2 months, then stainless steel for 8 months.
