First Foot Forward
Yarra Valley, Victoria
SUSTAINABLE - MINIMAL INTERVENTION
Martin Siebert is a winemaker from Victoria’s Yarra Valley with a love of cool climate wines.
Martin’s “day job” is as vineyard manager and winemaker at Tokar Estate in the heart of the Yarra Valley. Before talking on this role, he learnt the science of winemaking through a wine science degree at Charles Sturt University and learnt the art of wine- making by working with some of the best winemakersaround Australia, New Zealand and France. These include Benjamin Leroux (Burgundy), Pegasus Bay (New Zealand) and Yarra Yering in the Yarra Valley.
“Burgundy in particular taught me a huge amount about the importance of the vineyard site and how the wines should speak of where they were grown. Great wines can only be made from great sites, so with First Foot Forward I am sourcing fruit from sites that I think can deliver some of the most interesting wines in the Yarra.
The wines are made with a very light touch, occasionally needing a gentle nudge to keep it on track but my role as winemaker is to nurse the wine through its natural transition from grape to wine, then bottle it.”
2023 FIRST FOOT FORWARD ’NATURALLY PETULANT’ PET NAT- YARRA VALLEY, VIC
First Foot Forward’s first Pet Nat is Naturally Petulant (that’s a mouthful) and it’s a belter!
It’s cloudy iridescent pink like a hazy sunset. The bubbly fizz highlights the vibrant cranberry and blood orange fruit and there’s a lively prickle on the tongue with flavours of ruby grapefruit, fruit tingles and sourdough. Super fresh!
Naturally Petulant was made by co-fermenting Yarra Valley Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay grapes and bottling while still fermenting, locking in the bubbles for a lightly sparkling wine.
Cool the bottle down before opening to calm the wine’s petulance (it gets very excited very quickly if too warm). I recommend gently mixing the settled yeast into the wine before opening for that extra creaminess or just decant if you’re not a fan of the yeasty goodness.
So fresh, so easy to drink, so delicious.
2023 FIRST FOOT FORWARD ‘AMPHORA FEREMENT’ SAUVIGNON BLANC - YARRA VALLEY, VIC
The nose is limey and chalky with a little passionfruit. It’s fresh, pure and has a slight “desert earth” character coming from the Amphora. On the palate there’s apple blossom and honey dew melon that’s held in place by some pretty racy acidity. Lip-smacking Sauv.
2023 FIRST FOOT FORWARD ‘UPPER YARRA’ CHARDONNAY - YARRA VALLEY, VIC
The fruit was harvested when the berries were changing from green to gold (in the citrus to stone fruit flavour spectrum) and whole bunch pressed to tank for a brief chill. The cloudy juice was put to mostly 500L French barrels for wild fermentations. There was no malolactic fermentation with this wine to keep the tight acid line that supports the bright fruit. The wine was kept on lees and was bottled with only a course filtration after 10 months in barrel.
2023 FIRST FOOT FORWARD ’UPPER YARRA’ PINOT NOIR - YARRA VALLEY, VIC
This single vineyard release come from the red volcanic soil of the Upper Yarra Valley. The slow, cool growing season gave the vines plenty of time to pack flavour into the grapes. The fruit was hand picked and bursting with the perfume and elegance the Upper Yarra is famous for.
25% whole bunches brings a fruit lift and savoury edge. The wine was matured in French oak barrels (20% new) giving a subtle smokey note that compliments the cherries and Campari on the palate.
2022 FIRST FOOT FORWARD CABERNET SAUVIGNON - YARRA VALLEY, VIC
“A little spearmint here, but it’s not unripe – cool year, yes, but it’s dense and rather bold. Not old school claret, so more blackberries rather than mint and cedar. Clever oak – fine-grained, polished vanilla stuff. Great flow to the palate here, too – that blackberry fruit fills out the middle, but with proper chewy Yarra Cab tannins. I like the chew. I like this wine all over, actually. Maybe a little ripe but not overdone at all. I enjoy the finish and texture the most, with the tannins and depth that comes from extended time on skins” – Andrew Graham
Best drinking: good now, likely better in 2-3 years time and then drink over a decade. 18/20, 93/100. 14%
