The Winery
Trentham’ s winery has been operating since 1988, where it has grown from the initial 30 tonne crush to a minimal but state-of-the-art facility handling up to 5,000 tonnes of premium fruit each vintage. It allows the flexibility to perform different winemaking styles, resulting in the diverse and always consistent Trentham Estate wines.
Today, Anthony is assisted with the making of Trentham’s wines by Katherine Hynes and Helaina Dorreen, along with a dedicated team of cellar and laboratory staff.
The winemaking philosophy at Trentham Estate has always been to produce high-quality varietal wines at an affordable price, with an emphasis on full fruit flavour and palatability.
Over the years Trentham Estate has produced a good balance of classic wine styles mixed with a number of alternative varieties. Anthony and Patrick have a passion for producing wines true to their natural varietal character, as well as experimenting with grape varieties that are lesser-known yet likely to thrive in the Mediterranean climate Mildura and the Murray Darling wine region are known for.
The awards received by many of these wines attest to the well-considered selection of varietals together with careful winemaking.
Trentham Estate is proud to export half of its annual production to a range of countries. The wines are available throughout Australia and of course in the Estate’s own Cellar Door and Restaurant – all for you to enjoy!
Harvest
THE GRAPES ARE PICKED AT OPTIMUM RIPENESS TO PRODUCE THE PERFECT FLAVOUR
One of the most important decisions in the winemaking process is the harvest date. The ripeness level of the fruit largely determines the flavour and style of the wine. To pick the grapes at their best involves lots of testing and tasting of the fruit from each individual block to get the timing right.
All the fruit is machine harvested which results in the fruit getting to the winery quickly and in top condition.
Crush and Press
CAREFUL TREATMENT OF THE FRUIT IS CRUCIAL IN THE EARLY STAGES
The fruit is put through a de-stemmer to remove the stalks from the grapes. The next step depends of the fruit type.
For white varieties, the grapes are gently squeezed using an air bag press to separate the juice from the skins and seeds. The juice is then fermented with cultured yeast at cool temperatures in refrigerated tanks. Fermentation takes 2-3 weeks.
Unlike the white grapes, reds are pumped directly into the tank to ferment on their skins as much of the flavour, tannin and colour lies within the skin. The fermentation last 7-10 days, during this time the tank is regularly mixed to help extract as much colour and flavour as possible.
Maturation
VARIOUS METHODS ARE USED ACROSS THE MANY VARIETIES
Maturation time depends on the style of the wine. Most of our white wines are bottled young and fresh shortly after vintage. A couple of exceptions are Chardonnay and Taminga. Chardonnay is matured in French oak puncheons in our underground barrel cellar and the Taminga in stainless steel tanks where time improves flavour and complexity.
Other than Maestri, all of our red wines are matured in French and American oak to soften the wine and add complexity.
Bottling
WHERE IT ALL COMES TOGETHER
Trentham Estate red and white wines are bottled under screw cap for preservation of quality.
Enjoy
THE BEST PART, OF COURSE!
The final result is a range of high quality varietal wines with an emphasis on full fruit flavour and palatability. Taste our wines in the Cellar Door, enjoy a glass or two with lunch in our Restaurant, or share at home with family and friends. Our Life, Your Wine.