CRFT

CRFT Wines

CRFT wines is the brainchild of two winemakers, Candice Helbig and Frewin Ries.  They currently only produce single vineyard wines from several different sources around South Australia.

I've read a few things about them but they only started in 2012 so a very new up and comer and their wine is very difficult to source.  I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to try their wines and I'm really glad I did..

CRFT Gruner Vetliner K1 2014
CRFT Gewurztraminer K1 2013
Both of these wines are fantastic atypical representations of each of these grape varieties and I was especially impressed with the Gewurztraminer which had very nice acidity which I think showed a bit better because the RS was so low (under 2g).  Both of these are great food wines and I wouldn't hesitate to drink either one of these...

CRFT Pinot Noir Arranmore 2013
CRFT Pinot Noir Budenberg 2013
CRFT Pinot Noir Chapel Valley 2013
Fruit was sourced from single vineyards across Adelaide Hills.  All of the them used French oak varying between 35-40% new.
Each of their Pinots were different from each other but one thing was fairly consistent...Great acidity, great texture, a very medium bodied Pinot that I think a lot of locals will scoff at..but honestly, a really great example of what CAN be done in Australia and I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes.  If you like a lighter Pinot that is more like a village level or 1er level burg in color/viscosity, you will probably like all three of these...

CRFT Little Hill Shiraz 2013
CRFT Cemetery Shiraz 2013
CRFT Fechner Shiraz 2013
All Barossa sourced single vineyard Shiraz.  All had great acidity.  Out of the three, the Cemetery was probably the biggest of the three and the most full body but all of them were great.  The Little Hill was a very good everyday wine with food..and the Fechner, which was from the Eden Valley, had fantastic acidity to go with very nice fruit..I was actually really impressed by these wines....

One thing I noticed with all of their reds was that even though they did use a good amount of new oak, none of the wines felt overly oaky....which I thought was great considering how young the wines were....They all had great texture and mouthfeel....Actually that applies across every single one of their wines...Not a dud in the bunch...

I see them having great success and I see them(along with others) filling a great gap in the Australian wine scene... there are a good number of new winemakers now that are moving away from the old Australian wine scene...they're doing what they want, how they want and what they think rather than trying to follow some trend....