2023 Sassafras White Ancestral

WINEMAKER: Paul Starr & Tammy Braybrook
REGION: Tumbarumba/Canberra District, NSW
VARIETY: Chardonnay, Savagnin
VITICULTURE: Sustainable

Paul Starr and Tammy Braybrook of Sassafras wines don’t have a background in winemaking, don’t come from a great dynasty of respected vintners, and didn’t inherit a chateau to work from. In fact, they came out of I.T jobs in Canberra a decade or so ago, and make wines for the best possible reason: because they love the product.

Within a few years, they were hitting the headlines of the wine world, thanks to their determination to communicate to the public their passion for wines made with the ‘ancestral method’ - a technique which allows a sparkling wine to finish its primary fermentation in the bottle. While this might sound complicated, it’s actually a far more homely, rustic and old fashioned way of making bubbly than the dominant Champagne method - to produce sparkling wines that use only their original grape sugar, with no riddling or disgorgement. With a nod to German lager brewing tradition, the wines slowly finish their fermentation in bottle at low temperatures before being released.