Established: 2021

Appellations: GI Tasmania, TAS

Proprietor: Justin Bubb and Anna Pooley

Winemakers: Justin Bubb and Anna Pooley

Wine Making Overview: A generally hands-off winemaking approach, with minimal added sulphur to facilitate wild-yeast ferments and natural malolactic conversions. Some whole-bunch inclusions for the red wines. Maturation in an assortment of vessels, including stainless steel, concrete ‘eggs’, older barrels and new French oak puncheons. All wines filtered, but bottled unfined.

Vineyard Area: 3 ha planted 24 yo vines (22 ha property)

Viticulture: Sustainable

Vineyards: Estate fruit from the White Kangaroo Road Vineyard. Additional fruit sourced from selected vineyards in the Coal River Valley and the East Coast of Tasmania.

Vine Density: 5 000 / ha

Average Production: 1 500 Dozen

Vegan Friendly: Yes

 

Bubb + Pooley is an exciting new wine venture created by the husband and wife winemaking team of Justin Bubb and Anna Pooley.

‘We have each been making wine across the globe for over 20 years. After living and working in Tasmania and making wine for a number of premium vineyards throughout the state, the time has come for us to release our own wines. We continue to work with our existing clients, so at this point in time you might say it’s a ‘side hustle’.

It's an opportunity to work with some exceptional vineyards and vignerons across the state and produce wines that connect with our philosophy of making wine from the ground up. All of our decisions are focussed on how we can do things better in order to minimise our impact on the environment. Sustainability threads through and underpins our approach to everything we do.

The use of concrete vessels is no experiment either - it’s a style of vessel that has been traditionally used for centuries in the Old World. We have chosen each shape specifically to enhance the texture of the varietal within them and these beautiful, hand crafted vessels will last lifetimes.’ Justin Bubb and Anna Pooley, January 2022.

WINE NOTES

Image Gallery

2024 Riesling - VERY limited
100 % Coal River Riesling coming from the Winen Vineyard on White Kangaroo Rd (near the home vineyard for B+P) and from the limestone-based Mapleton Vineyard on Middle Tea Tree Rd and also Clemens closer to Richmond. The season was characterised by the El Nino weather patters - a shift from the previous 3 years cooler seasons. Picked two weeks early.  Whole bunch pressed. Inoculated with neutral yeast. Fermentation left to go through to approx 1.5g residual. Minimal time on lees. No time in concrete because it was already soft from the fruit weight and fruit sweetness. We see this as balanced. A riper year so softer on the palate. Unfined as we love the “rawness”. 13.2 % Alc/Vol; 1.5 g/L RS; 2.94 pH.

‘Back to more “normal” vintage conditions with warm days and rapid ripening. Sourced from two vineyards in the Coal River Valley. Hand harvested, whole bunch pressed, fermented with yeast to dryness minimal time on yeast lees. Fermented in stainless steel. A very classic take on riesling from the Valley in a warmer year. High acidity and dryness marries well with the fruit sweetness giving the wine roundness and length.’ Anna Pooley.

2023 Chardonnay - VERY limited
100 % Coal River Chardonnay from Marengo, Brinktop, Bremley and the Bubb + Pooley vineyard on White Kangaroo Road. The clonal mix is predominantly P96, with some I10V1. Fermented in one 1500 L concrete sphere (40 %) and a mixture of barriques (25 % new oak). NO malolactic conversion. Stylistically Justin and Anna see this vintage as more in tune with their goals of freshness and higher acidity. Bottled unfined, so vegan friendly.
13.0 % Alc/Vol; 0 g/L RS; 3.13 pH; Malic 3.37 (clearly no MLF!!)

2023 Pinot Noir
100 % Coal River Pinot Noir from three vineyards in the Coal River Valley: the Bubb + Pooley vineyard on White Kangaroo Road, the Brinktop Vineyard in Sorell and Bremley vineyard near Campania. The fruit was hand picked and wild-yeast fermented with 20% whole bunches with 20-25 days on skins with pumping over once per day for minimal extraction. Matured for 10 months in a mix of concrete tulip (10%) and French oak puncheons (90%) with 25% new oak. Bottled un-fined, vegan friendly. 13.0 % Alc/Vol; 3.55 pH; 6.1 g/L TA.
Gee, this is a good Pinot Noir. Plenty of juicy cherry, a jasmine, rose oil and almost apricot perfume, a bit of spice and something a little earthy. It’s the feel of it, though, that really gets me in. It’s bright, but concentrated, with tight stony tannin, a cool ‘minerally’ aspect to its pure-feeling acidity, with a very long finish that pops with cherry, ripe raspberry, almond meal, and quite some fragrance. I love it. It’s touch and go for 96 points. 95+/100. GW, The Wine Front, July 2024

2022 Syrah
93 % Syrah from 20 year-old vines in the Waterton Vineyard in the Tamar Valley (55 %) and the Marengo Vineyard on Middle Tea Tree Road in the Coal River Valley (38 %); 7 % Viognier from the Marengo Vineyard (6 year-old vines). The Syrah from both sites was destemmed, while the Viognier component was added as whole bunch. The wine spent 20 days on skins with minimal extraction. Matured in 35 % new French oak puncheons for 10 months. Bottled unfined, so vegan friendly. 12.8 % Alc/Vol; 3.6 pH; 6.2 g/L TA.

2022 WKR Vineyard Pinot Noir - VERY LIMITED NEW RELEASE
The first Single Vineyard release from the White Kangaroo Road Vineyard which was purchased in 2021. The vineyard was planted in 2000 to UC Davis Pinot Noir clones G5V15 (60 %) and D5V12 (40 %) on on own roots on sandy loams over clay. No herbicide was used for this vintage and the yield was 3 t/ha. Fermented with 20 % whole bunches and matured for 11 months in new Cavin French oak barriques (60 %) and one concrete tulip (40 %). Bottled filtered, un-fined. 210 dozen made.
There’s a notable brightness at play, with red fruits and florals meshed with subtly savoury spice notes. Sour cherries, tart raspberries, pomegranate, white pepper on fresh strawberry, with hints of rose petal, rhubarb, bergamot tea and a dusting of ground cassia. Youthful, the tannins are tight knit, fine but grippy, showing a subtle assertiveness allied with pleasingly cool acidity, an architecture that’s made to carry the flavours as they unfurl and complex with time. Overall, the feel has a sharp spotlight on fruit and place, with the winemaking hiding quietly in the wings, supporting, not intruding. With air, the wine fleshes out, with nervier elements fleshing up, tannins plumping, and the subtly fragrant kick of whole bunch lifting out spicier notes to frame the fruit. Anna Pooley

2022 WKR Vineyard Cabernet - VERY LIMITED NEW RELEASE
From the WKR vineyard and heavily pruned as a reset in 2021. 22 year old vines and thought to be two clones but there is no record of which ones. Small canopy and small berries. Hand picked, 100% destemmed. No pump overs, hand plunge - with hands! Wild primary and secondary fermentations. Two French oak barriques. No new oak. Blue fruits, anise, sarsaparilla. Savoury spice on the palate and lovely long flinty tannins. Only 50 dozen made.
A pure and medium bodied expression of cool climate cabernet sauvignon - inspired by the “Clarets” of time gone by. A wine for the patient. Anna Pooley.