Wine Flashcards
Puncheon Darts
NV Continental Platter ‘PUNCHEON DARTS’ Prosecco
Price: $58
Region: King Valley VIC
Varieties: Glera (Prosecco)
Flavours: lemon-lime sherbet notes & a bright line of zippy acidit, fresh & youthful
Profile
Winery/Story
Body: Light-Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Off-Dry
Alcohol: 12%
Winemaking: Wild Yeast, (not certified) organic, Vegan, Added Sulphites
2020 UBERBRUT, HOLLY’S GARDEN
Price: $71
Region: Gippsland VIC
Varieties: 90% Pinot Noir, 10% Chardonnay
Flavours: Strawberry, red cherry, white grapefruit, hazelnut, salt, brioche
The Pinot Noir is handled a few different ways, to bring out multiple streams of flavour. It’s bone dry and shows plenty of dried red berries, nuts, strawberry and grapefruit. It’s tense and direct without being sharp - there’s a lovely completeness to it
Profile: Cool climate - retaining acidity and building flavour, incredible length & balance
Winery/Story: Grown at 750 metres in the deep volcanic soils of the Whitlands high plateau in a little “amphitheatre” it is the warmest site in the very cool region. The continental location gives cool evenings, which allows the vines to ‘rest’ at night and delays the accumulation of sugar whilst retaining acidity and building flavour. This prolonged ‘hang time’ due to delayed ripening is vital to the production of great wine, and helps create the featured structure and length of Holly’s Garden wines.
The deep, open structure of the soil draw the roots downward, allowing us to keep a no irrigation philosophy. Wines from these soil types typically have a ferrous, robust mineral character, giving our wines incredible length and balance. Some biodynamic viticulture is practiced, not for altruistic reasons, but to make better wine by growing better grapes.
Body: Medium
Acidity: High
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: Low
Winemaking: Traditional Method, Natural/ Wild Fermentation, Some Biodynamic viticulture, vegan, no sulfphates, unfiltered
- free run juice is allowed to oxidise and is fermented mostly in large old oak, with a small proportion in tank
- We run a ‘solera’ of sparkling base in large old-oak, which contains wine from each vintage going back to 2OO7. This gives important complexity to the final product.
- The result is 30 per cent solera, 30 per cent two year old blanc de noir made the same way, 30 per cent one year old blanc de noir made the same way, and 10 per cent new chardonnay.
- The chardonnay adds some grapefruit sourness to the green strawberry flavours of the BdN and adds tension and shifts the balance and length on the palate in a nice way.
- I top the barrels with tank fermented Chardonnay wine. This adds ‘umami’ through the autolysed yeast and sourdough and brioche type aroma.
I’m trying to produce an aperitif style.
Winemaker is Neil Prentice and proudly state sthat their vines have never seen a single chemical fertiliser, have never been irrigated, and are cropped and trimmed as infrequently as possible. Why? Because this winery is on a personal mission to produce wines which contain the very essence of the land the grapes are grown on, and are full of expression and unique features
2019 SPARKLING CHENIN, VOYAGER ESTATE ‘PROJECT’
Price: $70
Region: Margaret River WA
Varieties: Chenin Blanc
Flavours: Lemon zest, grapefruit, meringue, crisp acidity, red apple, brioche
Profile: Elegant and savory, crisp aperitif style sparkling wine
Winery/Story: Established in 1978. All wines are 100% estate grown, made and bottled, and reflect the unique qualities of the lance in Stevens Valley with its undulating slopes, warm summers and cooling maritime breezes. Voyager Estate remains a small, family-owned and independently-run business, now lead by Michael Wright’s (founder) daughter Alexandra Burt who continues to make wines of place using low-interference methods to let the grapes speak for themselves. From the practices in our vineyard, to the way we care for our planet and our people, sustainability is at the core of Voyager Estate.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Progressive, Organic (Will be certified organic by 2023), no oak, contains sulfites, traditional method from Weightmans Block 1
Hand-harvested, the fruit was gently whole-bunch pressed and settled overnight before fermentation in stainless steel tanks. Following a short maturation in tank, the wine was bottled in late May where it remained on lees until October when it was disgorged with a light dosage of 4-5 g/L sugar.
NV METODO ANCESTRALE, QUEALY SECCO SPLENDIDO
Price: $80
Region: Mornington Peninsula, VIC
Varieties: Moscato Bianco
Flavours: aromatic & floral with white flowers, mixture of orange, lemon and peach blossom, apricot jam, fresh grapes, hint of amaretti biscuit, musky character. Youthful and fresh
Profile: It’s fresh, clean and incredibly aromatic. This is Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains from a vineyard in the north of Merricks. Bottled before the ferment is complete, this naturally spritzy wine style
Winery/Story: Metodo Ancestrale is the pre-industrial method of sparkling wine, finishing their primary fermentation in bottle. They nurture the ferment with air, warmth and zero sulphur so this Moscato Bianco is breathlessly fragrant as the yeast create natural effervescence.
Decided against sweetness because we wanted to showcase the interesting texture of Moscato, in this case elevated by the fine bead
Body: Light
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin:
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfphites
Sun kissed, ripe grapes are pressed and the juice fermented. As the juice ferments, the sugar is converted by yeast into alcohol and CO2. The winemaker waits until say, 90% of the sugar is consumed by yeast, then prepares and bottles the young wine. Fermentation re-ignites in spring and the CO2 is captured in the bottle as a delicate sparkle with a satin sheen.
Quealy’s frothy, aromatic pét-nat uses Moscato Bianco grown by Joe Vaughan at his Merricks North 100 Hunts Vineyard. Harvested at full ripeness, the must was allowed to naturally hyper-oxidise when pressed, a process Quealy believes brings more aromatic complexity to Moscato. Before primary fermentation was complete, the wine was put to bottle with 25 g/L residual, to finish its fermentation naturally without any yeast or sugar addition.
This is a delicious and complex wine that opens fresh and clean with highly aromatic notes of white flowers and wisteria. The palate is racy and powdery with a heady, Muscat-typical mix of rosewater, orange and peach blossom characters as well as a hint of nutty, amoretti biscuit on the finish.
2016 BRUT ROSÉ, GHOST ROCK ‘ZOÉ’
Price: $85
Region: Northern Tasmania (Cradle Coast)
Varieties: Pinot Noir-driven
Flavours: Wild berries and floral notes
Profile: Our Brut Rosé is true to the principle of Méthode Traditionelle. From a stunning vintage, this Pinot Noir dominant blend has been elevated by lees ageing and stylistic finishing. Strawberry and floral notes drive this wine; it’s Brut style creating a truly moreish, fresh palate.
Winery/Story:
Body:
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12.5%
Winemaking: Strictly estate grown & bottled. Minimal intervention focused. Contains Sulfites
2020 RIESLING, DREISSIGACKER ORGANIC TROCKEN
Price: $64
Region: Rheinhessen, Germany
Varieties: Reisling
Flavours: Ripe fruit aromas of citrus, apricot and light spice notes. The palate is succulent with grapefruit and some minerally notes with sherbet-like acidity.
Profile: Aperitif Style Wine. Pale yellow in colour with youthful hues, this dry organic Riesling shows ripe fruit aromas of citrus, green apple and light spice notes. The palate is delightfully refreshing, with the elegant medium body very well balanced by a crisp acidity and mineral subtones.
Winery/Story: Weingut Dreissigacker Winery - Jochen Dreissigacker is one of the most talented young winemakers in Germany currently. After tasting his 2009 vintage wines, Jancis Robinson called him “a near genius” and his wines now are available in all the top European restaurants. The family owns 37 hectares in Bechtheim, Rheinhessen with 21 hectares of vines, – 60% Riesling with the balance a mix of French varieties – Weissburgunder (Pinot Blanc), Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) and Spatburgunder Pinot Noir).
Extremely low yields or long maturation on lees are two of the quality factors of Dreissigacker wines and organic farming, manual work in the vineyard, fully ripe grapes, hand picking and gentle fermentation all contribute to the quality of wines produced here.
Body: Medium
Acidity: High
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12.5%
Winemaking: Vegetarian; Vegan; Practising Biodynamic; Certified Organic
The approach to Dreissigacker wines is simple – as little intervention as possible with low yields and careful fruit selection. All vineyards are certified organic and biodynamic methods are often used, resulting in excellent fruit quality, hence beautiful balance.
The grapes were harvested by hand and were macerated for up to 18 hours. The juice underwent spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts in stainless steel tanks for four weeks at 16-18°C. No chaptalisation took place and no ‘süss-reserve’ was added.
90% was matured in stainless steel while the remaining 10% was matured in oak giving the wine a nice round, medium body.
2021 RIESLING, WATERVALE KOERNER
Price: $71
Region: Clare Valley (Gullyview Vineyard, Watervale)
Varieties: Riesling
Flavours: lemon, lime, honeysuckle, white pepper, peach
Profile: Edgy & zippy - aromatic with texture and spice. A unique expression of Clare Valley Riesling
Winery/Story: The Koerner brothers, Damon and Jono, are on a mission to bring the classic wine styles of the Clare Valley into the modern day.
Wines are produced from fruit grown within a 500m radius of the Watervale area in the Clare Valley, with the majority coming from the family vineyard, Gullyview.
Gullyview vineyard has been owned and managed by the family for over 40 years.
Generally produce wines that are light, fresh, textured and well structured with high drinkability. To achieve this they pick early and use a minimal intervention winemaking style.
Reds are bright, vibrant and can be enjoyed young with a great balance between primary fruit, acidity and phenolics.
Whites are aromatic, expressing primary fruit while showing mouthfeel, structure and texture.
Currently implementing organic practices within the vineyards.
Body: Light
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12%
Winemaking: Progressive. The fruit spent 18 hours on skins and was naturally fermented and aged in a combination of stainless, ceramic egg and old oak. No fining, filtering or additions. Contains sulphur.
Soil type: Red clay on limestone (Gullyview & Grace), Red clay on slate and iron stone (Parish)
2021 VERMENTINO ‘SCREAMING BETTY’ IL DELINQUENTE
Price: $53
Region: Riverland SA
Varieties: Vermentino
Flavours: White flower, lemon, nectarine, saline, lime
Profile: Lo-Fi/Natural
Winery/Story: Delinquente makes small batch, minimal intervention wines from Southern Italian grape varieties grown in the Riverland, South Australia.
Organically grown, minimal intervention, honest, hand-made wines that not only are great fun to drink, but represent the sun, the red dirt and uniquely Australian terroir of the Riverland.
The Riverland can be very hot and very dry, particularly through the vines growing season. For that reason, we’ve chosen to work with Southern Italian grape varieties – varieties that are suited to the climate, need less water and are naturally drought resistant, are late ripening and retain natural acidity. In this way, they are more environmentally sustainable, and allow us to make wines with lower alcohol levels but heaps of freshness and flavour.
Delinquente is “delinquent” in Italian, which speaks to our desire to always buck the trend, break rules and do things our way.
Body: Light
Acidity: High
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 11.5%
Winemaking: Wild fermented in stainless steel, the Vermentino spends 6 weeks on fine lees, stirred twice weekly, giving it a beautiful, textural edge. The hot early seasons conditions meant the Vermentino came off very early again, but the ever increasing vine age means that flavours are well developed and layered, while acid is cracking given the season. Contains sulfates, organic, vegan
2018 GEWURZTRAMINER, LE STAGIAIRE
Price: $78
Region: King Valley VIC
Varieties: Gewürztraminer
Flavours: Floral, fruity, rose water-meets-nashi pear scents. Palate is slick and then tightens up to a squeaky finish with some glycerol licks left behind. Shows the intensity possible from the variety, sweet-fruited, oily concentration, but maintains a freshness too, though no apparent ‘bite’ of acidity. Very even tempered, long, fine-feeling for the variety.
Profile: From Garagiste Producer. Packs a punch with some great aromatics of vanilla bean, exotic spices, lychee, passionfruit, cut grass, musk sticks, licorice powder, white flowers, lime zest, it’s all very intense and elevated and a bit in your face. The palate is juicy and a little bit broad, textural and oily but there’s prominent acidity to balance it. Really delicious, excellent value. Fruit driven, varietal, spicy, terrific.
Winery/Story:
Body:
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin:
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Contains sulfates. The fruit from these 30-year-old vines is handpicked and whole-bunch pressed to old barriques. Wild fermented, the wine spends eight months nourishing on its ferment lees before bottling.
2018 PINOT GRIS, NUNC
Price: $63
Region: Yarra Valley, Victoria
Varieties: Pinot Gris
Flavours: Peach, honey and white flowers with a savoury mid-palate. The skin contact and malolactic fermentation create a texture of richness and depth.
Profile: Lovely Yarra Valley Pinot Gris, a great-value all rounder white wine. On the dry side of the PG ledger, it’s pear and apricot juice brought to life.
Brilliant very pale straw colour with a watery hue. The nose exhibits ripe pear aromas laced with musk followed by some tropical fruits and citrusy confectionary. Light and dry the palate is subtlety flavoured with pears, citrus, faint musk infusions and spice. Very dry finish with a modest aftertaste of pear, citrus, very faint musk and spice.
Winery/Story: The name is taken from the famous line by Latin poet Horace: “Nunc est bibendum” (“Now is the time for drinking”).
Dave Mackintosh worked with growers from three different Yarra Valley vineyards, pretty evenly spread over the upper and lower valley. Predominantly the fruit is from the cool, east-facing slope in the Yellingbo sub-region in the Upper Yarra, where the red, rich volcanic and foggy harvest mornings produce grapes that provide the prettiness and perfume for the Gris. The remainder is from two lower valley sites: a slight north-facing slope in Coldstream and a steep south-facing outcrop of grey clay loams in the Dixons Creek sub-region. These two sites provide the wine’s backbone and structure.
Nunc is the brainchild of winemaker Dave ‘Bro’ Mackintosh (Giant Steps, Salo & Villa Maria), and Robert Walters (of the Bibendum wine importers fame). Dave is an astute and classically trained winemaker, but one who isn’t afraid to challenge the status quo. This Gris sees a lot of winemaking know-how to craft the perfect, food-friendly wine. Wild yeast, 20-day skin-contact, malolactic fermentation… the works. It’s a fragrant and decadent Gris style, all lemon barely, peach nectar, candied ginger, white flowers and honey.
Body: Light
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Everything was hand-picked and whole bunch pressed. The lion’s share of fruit was naturally co-fermented in tank, with each parcel added in stages so as to extend the length of the fermentation and enhance the flavour and mouthfeel. A little lower Yarra fruit was de-stemmed and fermented on skins for 20 days. After wild alcoholic fermentation the berries were pressed to old barrels to go through natural malolactic fermentation. There were no additions at all, save for a little sulphur at bottling.
2020 SAUVIGNON BLANC, MELWATER
Price: $58
Region: Marlborough NZ
Varieties: Sauvignon Blanc
Flavours: aromatics of passionfruit, citrus and crushed herbs. Loads of energy on the palate.
Profile: Crisp, Aromatic, Tropical fruits
Winery/Story: Corofin Winery
Body: Light-Medium
Acidity: High
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13.5%
Winemaking: Contains sulfites, vegan. Single vineyard. Handcrafted lively Sauvignon Blanc, made by Mike Paterson of biodynamic Corofin fame. Hand harvested, wild yeast fermented, extended time on lees (but no oak) and only lightly filtered.
The source is a sustainably-run vineyard in the southern Wairau Valley, a cooler area making racy, less tropical styles. This is more in the tangy lemon and citrus rather than mango and passionfruit.
2019 CHENIN BLANC, VOLTA ‘FUNKY & FEARLESS’
Price: $75
Region: Margaret River WA (Swan Valley)
Varieties: Chenin Blanc
Flavours: passion fruit and lemon / lime pith at it’s core. Waxy and mealy characters with a little preserved lemon, a bit of ‘funk’, a bit more texture, focussing citrusy acid pulls it through. pear, melon, green apple
Profile: It’s made in a fairly textural style, focusing in on the waxy, mouth-filling characters that make Chenin so distinctive as a variety.
Winery/Story: Garth Cliff and Kristen McGann are really passionate about Chenin Blanc. Showcasing the varieations created from different vineyards and with different winemaking techniques in and around the Swan Valley region. These are 25+ year old vines in the north of the region, from the Rockets vineyard, planted on sandy loam.
Swan Valley is Western Australia’s oldest wine region and Australia’s second oldest wine region with the first wine grapes planted in 1829. Grapes were also used for fruit and dried fruit production and wine production. Until the 1970’s, Swan Valley was the major grape and wine producing region of Western Australia.
Body:
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin:
Alcohol: 13.5%
Winemaking: Contains sulfites. Whole bunch pressed. High solids, natural ferment - old barriques. Lime pith, passionfruit, waxy & meally. Preserved lemon, subtle char. focused, citrussy acid.
2018 WHITE BLEND, IL MODO ‘BIANCO’
Price: $68
Region: Geelong VIC
Varieties: Fiano, Greco
Flavours: Lemon, roasted almond, peach, orange, clay, pear skin,
Subtle tangerine floral on a savoury palate, with plenty of texture and grip. A whack of lime leaf and lemon oil on the palate and a deliciously dry finish.
Profile: An amphora-fermented and aged white blend, inspired by the interesting white/orange wines of Sicily, made by Ray Nadeson and team.
Fiano-led, with Pinot Gris and others in the supporting roles, full of citrus and pear flavours, with a cooling dry finish.
Winery/Story: Lethbridge winery is the home, but il Modo (meaning the way) is a focused exploration of ‘alternative’ Mediterranean varietals arguably more suited to the warm climates of Heathcote and Mildura in which they are mostly grown.
Their aim is to produce natural, savory wines that focus on balance and texture with a real sense of place or terroir.
Maree Collis and Ray Nadeson are not your average winemakers of a boutique winery. Both were initially trained as research scientists and hold PhD degrees in chemistry and medicine, respectively. While combining their scientific careers with winemaking, Maree and Ray completed the winemaking degree at Charles Sturt University. Ray states, “winemaking is not really that different to science, both are creative and both involve 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration”.
Not surprisingly, the site at Lethbridge was selected based on scientific principles such as soil type, degree days and other climatic indicators, yet when the three partners first explored the property they discovered an ancient old wooden fermentation vat in one of the old sheds. Discussion with the previous owner (Ivor Perdrisat) revealed that his family, Swiss in origin, had planted a vineyard on the exact site back in the 1870’s before the discovery of phylloxera in the region. The old wine vat has been reincarnated as a beautiful timber tasting bench in the cellar door. This story is compelling in the connection between traditional wisdom and modern science.
This operation is considered one of the leading lights in the ‘natural wine’ movement, being founded on the idea that great fruit should speak for itself.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Lo-fi, natural, organic & Vegan. This Bianco is ‘co-fermented’ on skins which gives it the colour and mouthfeel, in large Tuscan clay amphora where it ages for 11 months with no additions, fining or filtration.
The vineyards are grown with an organic philosophy and as little as possible is added to the wines through the winemaking process.
2020 FIANO, UNICO ZELO ‘ALLUVIUM’
Price: $80
Region: Birdwood, Adelaide Hills
Varieties: Fiano
Flavours: Pristine citrus qualities, brimming with grapefruit and lime zest and a clean and mean mineral structure
Profile: Of the pair’s three single vineyard Fianos, this is the ‘Grand Cru’, the wine that Brendan (who occasionally operates under the #FianoMan alias) told us is “our baby, the Fiano that receives the most attention”.
Almost Riesling-esque in its incredible minerally acid. Defintiely some quartz influence there from these unique soils. Just ripe stone fruits, hints of sherbet and citrus and Fiano’s trademark texture and mouthfeel. Finishes long and fresh.
Winery/Story: Brendan and Laura Carter, two people incredibly passionate about the soil and produce we have in Australia. It’s their intent to showcase products to the rest of the world that embrace Australian native ingredients in the most sustainable and non-impactful way possible and pay homage to the indigenous custodianship who maintained the land for thousands of years. B Certified Corporation.
Their aim is to create “Italian-inspired, textural and site-expressive wines” and “Australian examples of Mediterranean varieties in an approachable and jovial fashion.”
Body:
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13.5%
Winemaking: Cooler Climate, Vegan, Alluvial Quartz-Shot Clay Soil
2020 NASCETTA, DIEGO CONTERNO
Price: $65
Region: Piedmont
Varieties: Nascetta
Flavours: Aromas of citrus and pineapple, notes of sage and rosemary, mineral Medium-bodied, fresh, lively
Quite rich with exotic fruits blended with spicy notes and green apple
Profile: Green & Flinty. Piedmont’s true native, white grape may be Nascetta, a rare gem that is slowly making a comeback in the Langhe region after being forgotten for too many years. Historically, Nascetta was made into a sweet wine (mostly for religious services) yet as a dry wine, its complexity and aromatic intensity are immediately captivating. Citrus and pineapple, savory notes of sage and rosemary
Winery/Story: Nascetta is rarely cultivated, yet is believed to be the Langhe’s true indigenous white grape.
Trained by Piedmont legend Beppe Colla years ago at Prunotto, Diego with his cousins helped establish Conterno-Fantino in 1982. After nearly two decades of crafting bold wines at this modern Barolo estate, Diego felt it was time for him to explore a more natural expression of Nebbiolo.
He left the family project to start his own in 2000, bringing with him from his family’s holdings a nearly five-acre plot in ‘Ginestra,’ unquestionably Monforte’s top cru. In 2010, his son Stefano joined the estate, adding a new energy and focus to its already growing reputation for quality in Monforte.
Crucially, Diego Conterno wines “blend the energy and brawn of Monforte with the translucence of traditionally inspired winemaking,” says Antonio Galloni. Rich and potent yet utterly suave in perfume and flavor, wines across the board are made naturally, fermented on indigenous yeasts in neutral cement tanks and aged in traditional large oak cask (botti). All vines are cared for organically.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfites, Conterno wines are made naturally, fermented on indigenous yeasts and aged in traditional large oak cask (botti). All vines are cared for organically. Certified organic
2020 GRUNER VELTINER, HILLS COLLIDE ‘MACCLESFIELD’
Price: $68
Region: Adelaide Hills SA
Varieties: Gruner Veltliner
Flavours: Lemon, red apple, mineral, nectarine, fennel
Flinty, textural and spicy. Plenty of savoury complexities play alongside ripe nashi pear. Herbaceous with plenty of freshness.
Profile: Great minerals and ripeness, texture with fruit-forward drive, finishing dry with stony minerals. Pretty and slick. Progressive
Winery/Story: Hills Collide - A considered approach to minimalist winemaking. Adelaide Hills Winery A collaboration from winemaker Mitch Fitzpatrick and Proof Bar co-owner Shane Ettridge.
Body: Light
Acidity: High
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfites, Blend of settled and full solids barrel ferments. 50% whole berry skin contact ferment. Matured and lees stirred 7 months.
2020 CHARDONNAY, MUDDY WATER
Price: $77
Region: Waipara, New Zealand
Varieties: Chardonnay
Flavours: Melon, peach, stone fruit, oak, butter, vanilla, stone, vanilla, honey
Profile: Vibrant and fresh with lovely fruit ripeness. A complex entry and an earthy undertone help to bring layers to this balanced chardonnay. A mineral line contributes both length and site specific characters given by calcareous clay soil.
Winery/Story: Muddy Water was one of the founding wineries in Waipara, New Zealand, and an organic pioneer on the South Island. Planted in 2003 on the clay slopes of the Omihi hills with ungrafted vines, the name Muddy Water comes from the traditional Maori name Wai (water) and Para (muddy) referring to the rich clay soils in the area. Muddy Water’s hectares of vines form the oldest certified vineyard in the region and they make all their wines in a straw bale winery on site. All the grapes are harvested by hand, wild fermented and bottled, without fining, on site staying true to their motto hand-crafted no compromise.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13.5%
Winemaking: NO sulphur added! Certified organice
Our Muddy Water Chardonnay is organically estate grown on deep, fine textured Awapuni clay soils. One of our oldest blocks, planted in 1993 the vines remain on their own roots. Vines are meticulously managed by hand to encourage even shoot growth and optimum canopy density. The vines are of an age where they now self-regulate low crop loads, which correlates with intense flavour in the berries. The 2020 vintage was characterized by a long, warm summer which allowed the fruit to reach full phenological ripeness before harvest.
Hand picked and whole bunch pressed before a natural settle in tank overnight. After 24 hours settling the new juice was racked carefully to used puncheons for a long natural fermentation and full natural MLF. Oak maturation lasted 7 months before blending and estate bottling.
2015 CHARDONNAY, NGERINGA ‘SUMMIT’
Price: $92
Region: Adelaide Hills, SA
Varieties: Chardonnay
Flavours: aromas of rich white peaches atop lightly toasted cashews and subtle spice and sourdough notes. The nose is layered further with hints of flint and minerals. On the pallet the peach flavours remain, along with spring blossoms, spiced toast and whispers of buttery creaminess. A rich, mouthfilling texture with a fresh acid line.
Profile:
Winery/Story: Ngeringa is a certified biodynamic vineyard and winery specialising in classic, fine wines that are full of vitality and born of tradition.
Erinn & Janet Klein are pioneers of biodynamic viticulture in Australia.
Their Adelaide Hills vineyard has been certified biodynamic for more than 20 years. They are deeply passionate about the health and well-being of their soils and plants. It’s a bucolic scene they have created in their little part of the world.
In the winery, they favour low-intervention winemaking allowing their pristine fruit to fully express itself. And they have been instrumental in mentoring many of the younger-generation winemakers pursuing a more natural approach to winemaking in the Hills.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Whole bunch pressed directly into French oak barriques and puncheons. Natural fermentation with minimal temperature control. 100% natural malolactic fermentation. 30% new oak barrels. Élevage for 12 months on full lees to build texture and integrated layers of flavour. Minimal sulphur added prior to bottling.
wines made with biodynamic farming and intuitive wine making.
2020 TREBBIANO, CIRELLI ABRUZZO
Price: $57
Region: Abruzzo, Italy
Varieties: Trebbiano
Flavours: Honeycomb and nutty deliciousness melded with more brisk lemon butter notes and flinty stony minerality. Skin contact done right. Citrus, lemon, grapefruit, honey, stone, apple, pear
Scent - Delicate, mineral and floral, with scents of white fruits and wild flowers
Taste - Very fresh, mineral, easy drinking and refreshing
Profile: Trebbino d’Abruzzo by Cirelli is a fresh, refreshing and satisfying white wine with a pleasantly rustic style, with great minerality and freshness.
Delicate floral and fruity notes accompany a refreshing and light sip.
Winery/Story: Francesco Cirelli “I strive to bring out as much as I can of the peculiarity of the region, the season’s harvest and even my own sentiments in the wine I produce. It’s my belief that the wine has to reflect its place of origin and its creator.”
Our wines speak of our passion for wine making and of our awareness to maintain and safeguard our precious environment that is our livelihood. This is why all our wines are organic, made without using chemical substances that may be harmful to the environment therefore to our own health. Our wine reflects our native land and the people who produce it.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium +
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12%
Winemaking: The grapes are de-stemmed and transferred to the tank where maceration of 24 hours takes place.
The skins are then separated from the juice and softly pressed, then transferred to the stainless steel tank where our indigenous yeasts take over and lead the fermentation process.
The wine rests in sainless steel tanks for a period of four months before the bottling.
Organic, Indigenous yeasts, Independent Winegrowners, Biodynamic
Contains sulfites
2020 CARICA L’ASINO, CARRUSIN
Price: $80
Region: Piedmont, Italy
Varieties: Carica l’Asino, Favorita, Sauvignon Blanc and Cortese Alto Monferrato
Flavours: Green, flinty. On the nose the aromas are fresh with fruity references. At the sip it is light, perfectly acidic and savory.
Fresh, crisp and very fruity. Yellow plums dominate with a delicate mineral touch to give the wine a (slight) touch of weight, while remaining light and playful. Bitter almond hints surround the fruit. Medium, ripe acidity that cleans the mouth well and helps the wine linger around just long enough to remind you just how balanced this wine is. Five minutes in the glass and one degree warmer, and I find very slight hints of yeast and bread, but only slight. The bitterness also intesnifies a tad, which in my opinion makes the wine more interesting. A very well balanced, although simple, wine with a moderate 12% of alcohol. Great for aperitif or with simple tomato based dishes.
Light and fresh
Profile: Light straw-colored yellow, fresh and fruity scents. Light and balanced, perfectly acid and sapid
slightly aromatic, good bodied white wine. A bit cloudy, especially towards the end. Very pleasant and refreshing drinking.
Winery/Story: Carussin Farm was born in 1927 in San Marzano Oliveto, a small town of the southern region of Monferrato in the province of Asti, in the hills between Nizza Monferrato and Canelli, followed by its founder’s settlement: Ferro Maggiore came from a close town called Calosso, there is where the name of the Farm comes from, in Piedmont dialect it means “Calossese”, original from Calosso.
In its begginings the Farm consisted of one house with 4 hectars of vineyards, to be expanded with the acquisition of a second house with 2 hectars. In 1950 Maggiore Ferro passes away crusche by an ox and his son Carlo follows with his work, helped by his uncle Giovanni. In the following years the Farms winegrowing potential gets stronger, substituing apple plantations with grapes, specially of Barbera d’Asti; reaching the current Vineyard area of circa 13 in town and circa 6 in Gino’s and Angelo’s lands, Luigi’s father and uncle respectively, from whom we buy such great grapes. The Farm’s lands are complete with fields of Clan!Destino beer’s barley and an area of 6.87 HA of woods in Roccaverano.
The Year of the change: now we produce quality wine
The most important breakthrough in terms of production was in 1961, year in which Carlo marries Vanda, as she also comes from a family of farmers, she takes his side in an incomparable way leading the farm, always making efforts to improve their products’ quality. In 1962 Bruna was born, as soon as she finishes her studies she dedicates her work, with her parents, to the difficult art of winegrowing and high quality winemaking.
In 1981 Luigi Garberoglio meets Bruna and gets attracted by the fascinating work of winemaking, and by Bruna, of course! Its consolidation will come 3 years after with the “inevitable” marriage… In 1988 Ferro Carlo leaves to his daughter his precious wealth of experience and wisdom, with his support and with so much will to grow, she continues this fascinating and compelling work which is winemaking. Nowadays Luigi Garberoglio and Bruna Ferro “nest their dreams” on their inherited reality, applying their life philosophy. With their sons Luca and Matteo, the family group is complete.
No chemicals that could harm nature are used on the Farm’s lands since 1984; besides, with the instruction of Dr. Leonello Anello we follow the work on our vineyards with the modern biodynamic method, good practices that extand in the cellar. Our work in the vineyards is certified organic by “Suolo e Salute”.
The story of this wine is very special and it starts in 2005 when the farm purchased a stable surrounded by vineyards, at a region called “Valle Asinari” (“Valley of the Donkeys”). These vineyards are grown and soon it is discovered the diversity of two parcels of Cortese Alto Monferrato. We’ve asked the previous owner, a nice vivid lady of 1922, that satisfied our curiosity. When her husband found out about this variety, “Carica l’Asino” (“Load the Donkey”), through their friends from Acqui Terme, they decided to grow it in their land at the region of “Valle Asinari” (Valley of the Donkeys”). The curious existence of “Carica l’Asino” in that region combined with Bruna’s passion for Donkeys gave birth to the “Carica l’Asino” white wine. This wine has a longevity of 2/3 years.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12%
Winemaking: Biodynamic, Grower Producer, Low Sulphur, Minimal Intervention, Organic, Unfiltered, Unfined, Vegan
Pruning leaving 7/8 buds. Activities in the vineyardsare guided by a modern Biodynamic method, vineyards are certified organic by “Suolo e Salute”.
Manual harvesting with baskets, followed by analysis of maturation, generally in the second week of September.
Spontaneous vinification with only indigenous yeasts. Refine for 6 months in steel containers.
2020 WHITE BLEND, BARRACO ‘FIOR DI BIANCO’
Price: $81
Region: Sicily, Italy
Varieties: Catarratto, Grillo and Zibibbo
Flavours: A little skin contact but not much. A bit more rich than most Baracco wines. Beautiful, strong floral scents, a bit of honey, ginger, sea spray, lime juice. Fantastic, complex scent. Mouth-filling texture but with cut and thrust, freshness and energy, saline minerality and great shape and chalky edges. Wonderful drink, fantastic and fresh, but an opulence too.
Profile: Salty, slighty skinsy, purely Mediterranean white from Sicily. Bracing and interesting
Winery/Story: Nino Barraco is located in the north-west of Sicily, in Marsala, right on the coast. He took over his family’s vineyard in 2004, converted them to organics, and now works with no sulphur additions to his wines, along with no filtration, clarification or stabilisation. His wines are pure, naked Sicily.
His vineyards are planted to local Sicilian grapes - Grillo, Catarratto, Zibibbo, Nero d’ Avola and Perricone, and they can be found dotted along a wide stretch of Sicilian coastline.
Body: Medium-Full
Acidity: Low
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 11.5%
Winemaking: Nino Barraco lives on the coast in Marsala, north-west of Sicily. In 2004 He took over his family’s vineyard and swiftly began converting it to organic, he now works in a strictly zero zero manner, adding nothing to his wines, not even sulphur, no filtration, clarification or stabilisation either.
2019 WHITE BLEND, WATERSKIN BAW BAW SHIRE
Price: $95
Region: Gipsland VIC
Varieties: Reisling, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillion
Flavours: Green apple, spice, lemon, smoky
palate is powerful with bright grapefruit, melon, passion- fruit, sandalwood and savoury length
Profile: Spicy & Textural, Lo-fi/Natural. Spicy, smoky, scents with green apple and citrus fruit characters, chewy tannins to finish.
Winery/Story: Patrick Sullivan approach to winemaking is definitely minimalist with wild yeast and neutral vessels used as well as minimal or no sulphur, but the wines are clean and free of many faults that have haunted so-called natural wines to date.
Patrick started his brand in 2010 using fruit from leased vineyards, but more recently he uses his own grapes grown with meticulous love and care in West Gippsland on his own beautiful farm. “Things aren’t supposed to be like in a factory….” he quips. “Things are (supposed to be) made in a beautiful place with happy energy and nice people.”.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12%
Winemaking: Biodynamic. All varieties are picked on the same day, from the same block. The Riesling is direct-pressed over whole bunch Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. The juice is co-fermented for 7 days and then pressed off to barrel.
2016 RIBOLLA, DARIO PRINCIC JAKOT
Price: $150
Region: Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy
Varieties: Ribolla Gialla
Flavours: On the nose, herbaceous hints, accompanied by dried fruit. On the palate the wine is savoury and slightly tannic.
Sweet spices, dried fruit, apricot jam, herbaceous, and a light sensation of Kerosene.
“Incredible wine. Complex, savoury, detailed, rich yet refreshing. Powerful tannin shaping the wine. Full of stone and citrus fruit, mineral, savoury character, but always bright in its way, despite the dry-tea-like chalkiness, ashy-earthy notes and mix of herbal, botanical and savoury influences. An incredible energy to the wine, and evolves in glass, unfurling more detail with time and as it comes to room temperature. A full and amazing experience.” - Mike Bennie
Profile: A complex wine with dried fruit and medicinal herbs, with long-lasting length.
Winery/Story: Dario Princic’s company is located on the hills of Oslavia, a small town on the outskirts of Gorizia, famous for its white wines that are vinified with long maceration on the skins, wines that are produced according to the ancient traditions of the area. Dario immediately became a reference point for the production of orange wines, a name given to these wines that take on an orange color. It has about 8 hectares of vineyards located on limestone-clay soils called Ponka.
A true local pioneer, Dario was together with Stanko Radikon and Josko Gravner one of the staunch supporters of a non-interventionist approach in the vineyard and cellar, and the white wines in contact with the skins, in order to give great depth to the wine.
Body: Medium
Acidity: High
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Organic, harvested by hand, Vegan, contains sufites. Spontaneous fermentation in open wooden vats with maceration on the skins for 20 days. Aging in big barrels for 30 months, in steel for 3 months.
Service tips: Serve it at 12 C with Risotto with 5 years old Parmiggiano cheese from Red Cow Reggiana breed. Falafel wrap.
Ribolla Gialla
Ribolla is a white wine grape variety that is widely planted in the northeastern Italian province of Friuli. It can be found in neighboring Slovenia, where it is known as Rebula.
The wines are often characterized by their firm acidity, peach, citrus and apple notes, and a faint floral aromatic profile. In Friuli, Ribolla Gialla performs best in Rosazzoand Colli Orientali, where it used mostly to produce dry white wines and occasionally sparkling wines.
It is most often made as a varietal but is also blended with varieties such as Pinot Grigio, Friulano and Malvasia. In Slovenia (specifically the Goriska Brdaregion) Rebula blends are known as brisko vino.
Two clones exist: Ribolla Verde and Ribolla Gialla. The latter is far more prevalent as it is more expressive than its green sibling. Most wines labeled as Ribolla are more likely to be made from the Ribolla Gialla clone.
The variety suffered a period of declining popularity in Friuli – international varieties were preferred during the post phylloxera replanting. However, growers have recently embraced its unique qualities as a native grape.
2021 PINOT GRIS, LUCKY CAT ‘AMBER GRIS’
Price: $55
Region: King Valley, VIC
Varieties: Pinot Gris
Flavours: Medium bodied with great balanced acidity, a slightly creamy mouthfeel with white stonefruit, a
Campari-like bitternes and wild herbs. Textural
Profile: Single vineyard Gris, kept on skins for three days is then kept in barrel for three months before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. It’s super-pure, herbal, blood-orangey with a some light bitterness that is both thirst-quenching and appetite-inducing.
Lucky Cat is a new project by Punt Road winemaker Tim Shand
Winery/Story: Single Vineyard.
The grapes come from a vineyard with high elevation in the King Valley. This cool vineyard site allows for a long ripening period - meaning the grapes can achieve full ripeness while retaining high natural acidity.
Body: Medium
Acidity: High
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12%
Winemaking: Vegan, contains sulfates. The wine has spent 3 days on its skins where it was heavily worked to extract a lot of tannin and flavour from the grapes. After going through natural fermentation it has then been aged in some large format oak. The only additions this wine has seen is a small bit of sulphur at bottling
2020 WHITE BLEND, UNICO ZELO ‘ESOTERICO’
Price: $65
Region: Riverland/ Clare Valley SA
Varieties: Zibibbo (50%),Gewürztraminer (24%), Moscato Giallo (12%), Greco di Tufo (9%), Fiano (3%)
Flavours: Apricot, mango, nectarine, spice, mineral
Profile: Progressive, energetic. “esoteric: is: “intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest”.
Winery/Story: Unico Zelo is the project of winemaking couple Brendan and Laura Carter. In their words, their aim is to create “Italian-inspired, textural and site-expressive wines” and “Australian examples of Mediterranean varieties in an approachable and jovial fashion.”
Since bursting onto the scene in 2014 with their eye-catching, outrageously good value alternative vino, the Carters have spread their wings and their range. They now make a large suite of wines, including single vineyard examples of Fiano, Nero d’Avola and Nebbiolo. They are one of the most dynamic winemaking duos in the Adelaide Hills.
Body: Light
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12.5%
Winemaking: Vegan, contains sulfites. There is no fining or filtration involved, with the wine allowed to clarify by gravity alone - resulting in a slight haze and sediment.
2021 WHITE BLEND, SMALLFRY TANGERINE DREAM
Price: $65
Region: Barossa Valley SA
Varieties: Semillon 46%, Pedro Ximenes 41%, Riesling 10.5%, Roussane 2%, Muscat 0.5%
Flavours: Layers and layers of flavour, citrus peel and spice with deeper notes of oatmeal and brown rice.
Orange, hazelnut, white pepper, lemon, spice
Aroma: Citrus peel and spice blend with baser notes of oatmeal and brown rice.
Palate: Full and dry, grainy tannin make this the red drinkers white, multi layered, rewards time in the glass.
Profile: Orange wine lite? Bridges the gap between something like an oaky chardonnay and the more confronting skin contact whites out there.
Winery/Story: Over the last few years, owners and viticulturists Wayne Ahrens and Suzi Hilder have gotten the winemaking bug and ventured out on their own. Their wines are some of the more refreshing and original styles of vino you are likely to find in this historic region.
Natural ferments, nil to minimal adjustment, old oak a soft hand in the cellar allows the vineyard to speak. The style is food friendly, Euro style, with a eye to balance and subtlety.
Body: Light-Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 11.5%
Winemaking: Vegan, Lo-fi, Biodynamic, Organic
Tangerine Dream is from old, dry-grown vineyards planted circa WW1 in the Barossa Valley. Cloudy with a deep golden hue. The wine is a field blend of semillon, pedro ximenez, riesling, rousanne and muscat. Aromas of wholemeal rice bran, farmhouse apple cider, and soft spices. The palate is full bodied and dry and could be summarised as a red drinkers white, but it’s orange, so kinda move past that. It’s from one of our favourite biodynamic wine-growers and a leading light in South Australia’s natural wine scene starring the brilliant Wayne Ahrens and Suzi Hilder
2020 WHITE BLEND, EKLEIPSIS ‘MERAKI’
Price: $70
Region: North Cantebury, New Zealand
Varieties: Riesling and Gewürztraminer
Flavours: Nice & grippy with orange, tangerine, tart acidity, pink grapefruit, and pithy mandarin.
Profile:
Winery/Story:
Body: Medium
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin:
Alcohol: 12.5%
Winemaking: 7 weeks on skins in clay amphorae. The grapes used are all managed organically from vineyards in North Canterbury. The wines are made without any unnecessary additives or treatment.
2019 SAUVIGNON BLANC, KIND FOLK
Price: $70
Region: Macedon Ranges VIC
Varieties: Sauvignon Blanc
Flavours: Peach, nectarine, and subtle tropical pineapple notes, with a little pithy chew from the skin contact and sappy herbal edges.
Profile: Remarkable citrus and tropical notes integrate with texture and a driving acidity. A sort of pithy, grassy mouth feel and flavour has developed, and it’s a refreshing, dry but fruity white wine that will go beautifully with seafood and summer. Wines under the Kind Folk brand are less about the varietal, and more about the innovative, unusual, low fi styles of winemaking
Winery/Story: Henry, Harriet and family moved to the vineyard in 2018, and were new to winemaking, viticulture, and parenting. Stripped off their corporate suits and cut through our safety nets (with babe coming the next week), and jumped headfirst into this epic adventure. Skin fully in the game.
It doesn’t look like a conventional vineyard, and instead looks wilder, scruffier and more unkempt.
Body: Medium
Acidity: High
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol:
Winemaking: Vegan, Lo-Fi. Made by renowned Gilles Lapalus using low intervention techniques. It was whole-bunch pressed and wild-fermented, then left on skins for around 10 days to add texture, integrate aromatics and create a beautiful amber colour. It’s unfiltered, with minimal sulphur, and not cold stable: leaving everything natural to flourish.
2018 FALANGHINA, I CACCIAGALLI ‘AORIVOLA’
Price: $71
Region: Campania, Italy (Southern Italy)
Varieties: Falanghina
Flavours: Funky, Mineral, Chalky
The flavours are intriguing and not what you expect from Falanghina. Subtle savoury notes and olfactory aromas from the skin contact, a note of ripe stone fruit, hazelnut and pine. The palate is more open with rich stone fruits, resin, golden honey and straw. The finish is long and lingering and full of southern warmth. A delicious and surprising wine.
Profile: The Falanghina is a fantastic savoury wine. Often a simple, fruit bomb style of grape, Cacciagalli show its true potential to be a serious wine and a wine that will age.
Winery/Story: Cacciagalli is a small estate making hand crafted natural wines from local varieties. They are a certified biodynamic producer and the wines have real purity.
I Cacciagalli is the name given to the area of land where Diana and Mario Basco have started their biodynamic wine estate.
The 9 hectares of vines are located in a small hamlet a couple of kilometres outside the town of Teano in the province of Caserta. The estate lies in the shadow of the inactive volcano Roccamonfina which gives rise to the complex volcanic terrain which impart such character to the wines. The volcanic soil is rich in minerals and in particular potassium and is very fertile. The surrounding woodland is full of chestnut and hazelnut trees, pine and many wild flowers and other fruits. This place is an oasis of calm where nature flourishes and here Mario and Diana live out their dream of creating high quality natural wines.
Diana is an agronomist and the land has been in her family for generations, when she met passionate wine connoisseur Mario, they started their biodynamic farm and are now fully certified. They have started to ferment some of the wines in clay ovoid eggs, buried deep in the centuries old winery at their home, as well as using skin contact for the whites. The reds, are rich and elegant with long ageing potential.
Cacciagalli is located in an ancient building which stretched back centuries to a time when it was the house of the noble family who owned the local land and rented it to peasants. The building houses a 500 year old cellar where Mario stores the wines once bottled. There is a true sense of nature and history at play at the beautiful estate. The wines have the finesse and style to match.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13.5%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfites, Natural, Biodynamic, Organic, Hand Harvested
Fermented wild in steel tanks and macerated for twelve hours on the skin, the wine is quite rich with lovely warm, southern texture, slightly oily with medium acidity and body.
About 6 months in concrete vats with the lees
2019 GARGANEGA, MARCOBARBA BARBABIANCA
Price: $73
Region: Veneto, Italy (Northern)
Varieties: Riesling, Garganega, Trebbiano and Glera
Flavours: Lemon pith, melon, apple, nutty, touch of funk and a nice saline, slightly grippy finish.
Profile:
Winery/Story: Marco Barba first studied as a Carpenter but soon found that he had a passion for Biodynamics. After working in the Jura on Cattle farms he moved back to the Veneto where he started working in Wineries. With the help of two of his friends he grows and produces all of his wines in as natural a way as possible with respect for the environment and the vineyards.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12%
Winemaking: Biodynamic, vegan, contains sulfites.
A wine from exclusively biodynamic viticulture, with interventions in harmony with the vineyard always reduced to a minimum.
Barbianca is made with a mix of white-grape varieties native of the territory, some known, others not so much.
This wine sees a couple days of skin-contact, and is bottled with just a little bit of sulfur
The wine ferments with indigenous yeasts in concrete tanks; ages for 9 months in the same fermentation containers, and it is bottled unfiltered with a small addition of sulfur.
2021 NEBBIOLO, NATURE OF THE BEAST
Price: $56
Region: King Valley
Varieties: Nebbiolo
Flavours: Rhubarb, Grapefruit, White Cherry, Bitter Herbs, Creamy, Aromatic
Profile:
Winery/Story: Phoebe Grant would make any ‘young winemaker’ seem old. At the tender age of twenty-one, she is undoubtedly one of Australia’s most exciting young winemakers. With her newly established wine label ‘Nature of the Beast’ she is a discovery waiting to happen. Daughter of Nebbiolo gurus Simon and Helen Grant (Traviarti, Beechworth).
The detail and attention found in the quality of her ‘beastly bits and bobs’ is ridiculously exciting. From Macedon to the King Valley, these are wines that each have that ‘special something’; a magic and understanding of place, made with love and respect. Nature of the Beast, is a force to be reckoned with.
Just like her folks, Phoebe too loves the incredible grape variety of Nebbiolo. Interpreted here as a rosé style, it is deceptively light in colour, and very bit as serious as its more common red counterpart. Taut with white cherry and rhubarb, it builds with an amazing satin-like texture balanced by racy acidity and just a hint of amaro. The complexity here found in its inherent subtlety and purity. An excellent length, this rosé is all about mouthfeel.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12.3%
Winemaking: Vegan, Single Vineyard, Wild Yeast, Hand Picked, Organic, Contains Sulfites
2020 SHIRAZ, BLIND CORNER
Price: $58
Region: Margaret River WA
Varieties: 68% Shiraz and 32% Sauvignon Blanc
Predominantly Shiraz grapes, there’s a few barrels of Sauvignon Blanc thrown in the mix to keep things light and fruity.
Flavours: Raspberry - Spice - Dry
Profile: Light and fruity
Winery/Story: Like many people, our journey to wine was through hospitality.
A van trip to Europe, touring around every vineyard and surf break we could pack in, opened our eyes to what winemaking could be. We saw that you can use old-world techniques and blend them with new-world knowledge to create more natural wines.
The question is usually: what would happen if we did this?
Every season of growing throws up a new series of challenges. But, with a blend of new-world training, old-world techniques and endless experimentation we’ve managed to produce some wines that are true to where they’ve come from. And they are pretty nice to drink and share too.
Body:
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol:
Winemaking: Sustainable, Biodynamic, Certified Organic. Contains Sulfites, ourced from the Estate Quindalup vineyard, where soils are predominantly sand over pea gravel with a granite base. The Goulds continue their natural, organic/biodynamic approach, and this was naturally farmed and vinified
The fruit was picked, crushed and pressed before being wild-fermented in stainless steel, with a small portion drained from a second pick and wild-fermented in oak. Vegan.
2019 SANGIOVESE, TURON ROSÉ
Price: $63
Region: Adelaide Hills SA
Varieties: Sangiovese (67%) and Pinot Meunier (33%).
Flavours: Delicate floral aromatics with wild strawberry, light soft citrus, and a subtle texture.
Profile: It’s dry, refreshing & generous on the palate. With a fragrance of rose water & wild strawberries finishing with richer boiled lollies & crisp acidity. Rich & Fruity
Winery/Story: We aim to create elegant wines with intense flavour, wines that are approachable and yet intriguingly complex.
With a love for the environment and sustainable practices at every step. We grow grapes and produce wines with minimal intervention. These are vegan-friendly and express the natural characters of our terroir and the grape variety.
Our minimal intervention approach to winemaking means having the confidence to stand back and let the wine be itself, but the knowledge to step in and guide the wine in the right direction when necessary.
Ultimately we endeavour to create wines that bring joy and will be here for future generations.
Body: Light-Medium
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Mineral intervention, organic, biodynamic, vegan. Cool climate. Contains Sulfates
2020 GEWURZTRAMINER, ‘DIFFERENT SKINS’ VOLTA
Price: $69
Region: Margaret River WA
Varieties: 60% Frontignac (Muscaat Blanc)/ 40% Gewürztraminer
Flavours: Lychee, Grapefruit, Rose, Spice, Orange Blossom.
Super aromatic with turkish delight aromas, citrus and tropical fruits, bright, lively then turning savoury and textural with a slightly bitter finish.
Profile: Friuli-Venezia in Northern Italy.-inspired skin contact wine
Winery/Story: Garth Cliff and Kristen McGann are really passionate about Chenin Blanc. Showcasing the varieations created from different vineyards and with different winemaking techniques in and around the Swan Valley region. These are 25+ year old vines in the north of the region, from the Rockets vineyard, planted on sandy loam.
Swan Valley is Western Australia’s oldest wine region and Australia’s second oldest wine region with the first wine grapes planted in 1829. Grapes were also used for fruit and dried fruit production and wine production. Until the 1970’s, Swan Valley was the major grape and wine producing region of Western Australia.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry/Off-Dry
Alcohol: 12.5%
Winemaking: Lo-Fi, Natural, Progressive, Vegan, Each variety was picked separately and naturally fermented spending three weeks on skins before pressing off to old barrique the wines were matured spending seven months on lees.
2020 PRIMITIVO, GUTTAROLO VINO ROSATO
Price: $90
Region: Puglia, Italy
Varieties: Primitivo, Susumaniello
Flavours: Wonderfully aromatic with raspberry, red cherry, and a crisp, crunchy acidity.
Young, but tasting all the more fresh and bright for it - the fruit is all salty strawberry and tart, crunchy red apple
Salty like German Reisling
Profile: darker in colour, so fruity and vibrant
Winery/Story: Cristiano started his winery in 2004, just outside of Gioia del Colle, located on a 400m a.s.l plateau between Taranto and Bari, Puglia. This is a very special place, magic for wine and for the climate (sea breezes and elevation) and for the amazing limestone soils of Le Murge Plateau.
Cantine Cristiano Guttarolo is located outside the charming town of Gioia del Colle (Jewel of the Colle) in the former stables of an old farmhouse (masseria) constructed entirely of local stone. Situated on the Murge plateau in Puglia, about 400 meters above sea level the winery, founded in 2004, is certified organic by Ecocert. Natural principles are followed throughout the entire winemaking process, including the use of vegetable fertilizers in the vineyards.
Body:
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13.5%
Winemaking: Organic, Lo-Fi, Vegan, Contains Sulfites. Primitivo with a touch of Susumaniello. Grapes are hand-harvested, fermented using wild yeasts and macerated on skins for a couple of days before being pressed off to porcelain amphorae from Cantina Giardino for two months. Bottled unfined, unfiltered
Extremely small production, less than one thousand bottles.
2020 PINOT NOIR, MOUNT MACLEOD
Price: $52
Region: Gippsland
Varieties: Pinot Noir
Flavours: palate features a supple entry with cherry, winter strawberry and subtle rhubarb flavours filling the mouth. Traces of anise, dried herbs, forest floor and spice lie beneath
Profile: It’s a silky Pinot with a fleshy, textural palate and a heady mix of red fruit, loads of spice and forest-floor savouriness.
Gippsland Pinot Noir is becoming increasingly popular. In contast to the wines of the Yarra Valley, the Pinot Noir from Gippsland typically shows a little more breadth and richness on the palate as well as a little gamey, savoury note to complement the bright fruit characters.
Winery/Story: This small and relatively young operation is the second label to Caledonia Australis, a Burgundy-influenced and boutique-sized winery. This winery has a dedication for producing wines which look to France for their finesse and elegance, but have a character and body which is distinctly Australian, and not only that, but distinctly Victorian in their style.
Mark Matthews is never going to win any awards for marketing or self-promotion, so it’s just as well he’s rather diligent at his day job. The kind of green credentials practiced at this family-owned Gippsland Estate deserve to be applauded. Winegrower-ecologist Matthews has recently passed his 10th year of organic certification, and has instigated a weed management program using a combination of fire-stick and hard labour. As part of a widespread replanting program for both ecological and carbon-offset purposes, he has planted the 14,000th tree on the property, and since 2012 he has been slowly establishing native grasses between blocks. While we’re on a roll, he is now in his fourth year of removing weak or unsuitable vines and replacing with massale selections. Matthews’ attention to detail also runs through his packaging program which includes specially imported, post-consumer recycled paper for his labels (printers do not offer this product in Australia), recycled, unbleached paper for his cartons and the most sustainable glass he can find—bottles that are lighter and therefore have a lower carbon footprint.
For those new to the label, Mount Macleod’s wines are no score junkies, wines looking to make the headlines, win trophies or the like. What we have instead is a set of great value, honest-to-goodness deliciousness from an organic Australian grower with an impressive set of values and practices.
Body: Light
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Low
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12.8%
Winemaking: Organic, Biodynamic, Unfiltered, Cropped from dry-grown, organic vines on deep Gippsland ferresol soils. The fruit was fermented naturally then raised in a mixture of tank (with a long post-ferment maceration) and old wooden barrels that previously housed the Caledonia Australis Pinot. In 2020 Mathews used a greater proportion of whole bunches (20%) which also meant a shorter extraction period due to good early tannin pickup.
The fruit was destemmed, chilled and then cold soaked for 48 hours. The must was then moved into the sun to warm and the ferment began naturally. Most batches finished ferment in 10 to 14 days and the wine was then pressed off to settling tanks for two to three days for malolactic fermentation to begin. The wine was then racked to old French oak barriques for malolactic fermentation and elevage on light lees.
2019 PINOT NOIR, SIX PARALLELS SOUTH
Price: $90
Region: Yarra Valley
Varieties: Pinot Noir
Flavours: Red and black cherries, wild strawberries and raspberries.
Profile: A powerful yet elegant wine with layers of complexity, structure and backbone.
Winery/Story: Six Parallels South sources the best grapes available from regions that have a reputation for varietal excellence. This makes us the first multi-regional kosher winery in Australia
Body: Light
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 14.2%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfates, Vegan, Minimal intervention. The Bulong Estate vineyard is located in Yarra Junction, a sub-region within the Yarra Valley, Australia’s most famous cool climate wine region. The 23 year old vineyard sits on grey loamy clay overlying siltstone, is positioned in a shallow valley and is planted on a north easterly aspect thus protecting it from the afternoon sun and ensuring optimum growing conditions for Pinot Noir.
2020 PINOT NOIR, ‘RAIN’ P. SULLIVAN
Price: $100
Region: Gippsland
Varieties: Pinot Noir….. ?
Flavours: raspberries and mulberries. Silky textured and perfumed
Profile: Bright, punctual aromatics of fresh red fruit – evidently pinot noir and so very clearly Gippsland. The palate shows defined mulberry and raspberry, textural brightness and irresistible drinkability.
Winery/Story: Patrick Sullivan approach to winemaking is definitely minimalist with wild yeast and neutral vessels used as well as minimal or no sulphur, but the wines are clean and free of many faults that have haunted so-called natural wines to date.
Patrick started his brand in 2010 using fruit from leased vineyards, but more recently he uses his own grapes grown with meticulous love and care in West Gippsland on his own beautiful farm. “Things aren’t supposed to be like in a factory….” he quips. “Things are (supposed to be) made in a beautiful place with happy energy and nice people.”.
Body: Light
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol:
Winemaking: Contains Sulfites.Pure Pinot Noir this year from the Maffra vineyard north east of the winery. Barrel ferment, malo and elevage produces a light and fresh fresh and fresh, wine
All vineyards farmed by Patrick Sullivan (and William Downie) are farmed biodynamically (in process of certification), all vines are cane pruned, there is no tillage on any soil, all vineyards are on volcanic soils, and all vineyards are dry grown.
Ideal at 12-16 degrees.
2016 PINOT NOIR, ELDRIDGE ESTATE
Price: $110
Region: Mornington Peninsula
Varieties: Pinot Noir
Flavours: Red fruit, Cherry, Earthy, Oak, Vanilla, Cigar Box, Poached strawberries, Turkish delight, red cherry and fistfuls of meaty spice.
Profile: Cherry, pencils and a lovely dried flower fragrance about it. It’s medium bodied, kind of minerally and fine, with fine grained tannin, a supple and fine feel, just a hint of dried herb, and a savoury finish that’s refined, dry and very long. Svelte and delightful.
Winery/Story: David Lloyd and his (late) wife, Wendy, purchased the property in 1995, and set about making wines of near incomparable commitment to their terroir in Red Hill, Mornington. Only 3ha under vine in a special sloping, enclosed valley – these are cool, elegant and unadorned wines.
David runs the property with zero carbon footprint, continuously searching to optimise efficiency and the quality of his wines.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 14%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfites, vegan, Wild yeast, 100% whole berries, 25% new oak, three different coopers.
Situated in a shaded valley at 225 m in the Mornington Peninsula hinterland, Eldridge Estate is one of the coolest vineyards on the Mornington Peninsula. The grapes are grown in a single plot of 3 hectares.
Eldridge vines were mostly planted in 1984 and the property was purchased by David Lloyd in April 1995.
This wine is made from a mix of 6 clones of Pinot Noir: Pommard, G5V15, 114, 115, 777 MV6. It was destemmed with a 5 day “cold” soak before indigenous yeasts fermented the wine to dryness. A full malolactic fermentation happened, and aging was in a range of barrels from 3 tonnelleries, (228 pieces). No fining. It contains NO animal products
Vintage notes: In recent years 2016 would be considered one of the warmer years, hotter than usual due to a strong El Niño event. Pinot Noir being harvested in perfect condition on March 14 with beautiful red cherry flavours.
Roses and grape vines are prone to the same diseases. Ancient vineyards in France had roses at the end of the rows of vines as an early warning for disease. In modern times the colour of the rose usually indicates the type of grape.
We manage our vineyard in a sustainable way best described as the reasoned struggle also known as lutte raisonee.
2021 SCIACARELLO ‘MAMMOLO’ KOERNER
Price: $87
Region: Clare Valley, SA
Varieties: Sciaccarello (Shak-ar-ello)
Flavours: Wild strawberry, pomegranite, lavendar, spice, boysenberry
Profile: Light and bright red – aromatic, spicy and super acidic.
Sciaccarello (Shak-ar-ello) is an Italian red skinned grape, originating from Corsica. It’s known for being perfumed, vibrant and rarely seen as a solo variety.
Winery/Story: The Koerner brothers, Damon and Jono, are on a mission to bring the classic wine styles of the Clare Valley into the modern day.
Wines are produced from fruit grown within a 500m radius of the Watervale area in the Clare Valley, with the majority coming from the family vineyard, Gullyview.
Gullyview vineyard has been owned and managed by the family for over 40 years.
Generally produce wines that are light, fresh, textured and well structured with high drinkability. To achieve this they pick early and use a minimal intervention winemaking style.
Reds are bright, vibrant and can be enjoyed young with a great balance between primary fruit, acidity and phenolics.
Whites are aromatic, expressing primary fruit while showing mouthfeel, structure and texture.
Currently implementing organic practices within the vineyards.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfites, Organic, Progressive. Fruit was sourced from the Vivian Vineyard in Watervale. Soil type: Black and red clay on limestone.The fruit was hand harvested and sorted in the vineyard, then destemmed - retaining 50% whole berries with no whole bunches. Natural fermentation then occurred in open top steel fermenters, with hand plunging twice per day. Aged in Slavonian oak foudre for 6 months before being racked to steel for 3 months. Bottled without fining or filtration.
2020 FRAPPATO ‘CALA NIURU’ MORTELLITO
Price: $76
Region: Sicily, Italy (Southern)
Varieties: Frappato & Nero d’Avola
Flavours: wild raspberry, strawberry, sappy spice
Profile: The wine smells like rosewater, pomegranate and cherries with an underlying pleasant salinity. This is a very clean, thirst quenching, refreshing wine that is just begging to be chilled and drunk.
Calaniuru Rosso is driven predominantly by the bright freshness of Frappato, delivering pulpy red cherry and strawberry fruit laden with herbal, almost tea like savoriness and lithe tannins. The Nero lends a little added structure and spice but make no mistake, this is still a decidedly light-handed wine. Fresh and eminently drinkable, this is a bottle that takes perfect to a light chill and sunshine.
Winery/Story: Mortellito is the name of the land where I have my roots. A two-hectare area of countryside where my great-grandparents lived in the early twentieth century.
After selling his grapes to Sicilian natural winemaking phenom Frank Cornelissen for years, winemaker Dario Serrentino decided to strike out and make wine the way he wanted. The results have been phenomenal.
His small vineyard, nestled between the olive groves and almond trees planted by, and tended to, by his family for 4 generations, eschews the use of fungicides and pesticides.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Lo-fi, Biodynamic, Organic, Vegan, Fruit comes from Dario Serrentino’s organically managed vineyard which is harvested by hand and carefully vinified with minimal sulphur additions at bottling.
He works only with native grapes, his Rosso is a blend of the light and herbal Frappato and the black cherry driven Nero d’Avola. Macerated for 15 days while fermentation was achieved using natural yeasts.
2021 DOLCETTO, UNICO ZELO ‘JUNGLE JUNGLE’
Price: $73
Region: Clare Valley, SA
Varieties: Dolcetto, Nero d’Avola & Touriga
Flavours: Bright & Juicy, Cherry, Plumb, Spice, Floral, Blueberry, Rhubarb, Dark Raspberry, Violet, Pink Peppercorn
Profile: Touriga Nacional from Langhorne Creek (a perfect region for it if there ever was one) makes its Unico Debut, and it adds this wondrous layer of dried lavender but backs up the core fruit body to the wine - Clare & Langhorne in herbaceous harmony at last. To spice it up, a dose of Adelaide Hills Nero D’avola, bringing the acidity to Goldilocks level. As always, it’s one of those wines that will disappear before you know it, especially when lightly chilled on a warm spring day! Enjoy whilst eating with your hands for maximum deliciousness and supreme refreshment. Welcome to the Jungle Jungle.
Winery/Story: 1% of all sales of this years Jungle Jungle Dolcetto will be donated to 1% For The Planet in an effort to the combat environmental issues that we face globally.
Body: Light
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 13.5%
Winemaking: Vegan, Contains Sulfates, Progressive, Hand Picked
2018 SANGIOVESE, BIBI GRAETZ ‘CASAMATTA’
Price: $64
Region: Tuscany, Italy
Varieties: Sangiovese (80%), Colorino (10%), Canaiolo (10%)
Flavours: Spice, plum, and smoke characteristics with a medium to full body and fresh finish.
Profile: A Sangiovese blend. Fresh, rich and vibrant but stylish, leaning towards the end of the earthy spectrum. It shows tangy cherry, plum and iron with undertones of almond.
Winery/Story: Bibi Graetz Winery. Growing up between canvases and paint brushes in an artistic family, Bibi Graetz has transferred his creativity from paintings to growing grapes and making great wines. Casamatta, when translated means ‘crazy house’. This self-assigned title from Bibi Graetz is a means to express his life growing up between canvases, growing grapes and winemaking. Great intuition made him understand that the territory of Vincigliata in Fiesole had a potential for the viticulture, which had remained unexpressed for years. Located North-East of Florence, Fiesole soils are mostly made from clay, marl and ‘galestro’. It is rich in salts such as phosphorus, potassium and magnesium. The “azienda” owns 4 hectares of old vines and additionally farms another 10.5 hectares.
Old clones of Sangiovese, Colorino, Canaiolo & Malvasia Nera allow the wines to express true Tuscan ‘terra’. The wines are sensitively made with clarity, focus, defintion and harmony, the hallmarks of these great wines. These wines are becoming increasingly popular due to their very ‘Tuscaness’.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 12.5%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfates, wild yeast, not filtered or fined, Conventional vineyard health
Age of the vines Over 60 years old
Soil Galestro and clay
Training system Goblet and guyot
Vinification Natural fermentation in open top barriques with 8 manual punch downs per day
Aging 24 months in 225l barrels plus 6 months in bottle
2020 BARBERA-TEMPRANILLO BLEND, HILLS COLLIDE
Price: $62
Region: Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Varieties: Tempranillo, Barbera, Pinot Noir
Flavours: Cherry, lilac, strawberry, spice, raspberry
Profile: Bright and juicy. With winemaker Mitch Fitzpatrick and Proof restaurant co-owner Shane Ettridge at the helm, the Hills Collide wines deliver pretty seamless service. At front-of-house you have bright and lively sour cherries, acidity on the pass, and concentrated richer blackberries simmering out back. It goes down too quickly. Clean and cleared before you know it.
Freshly baked rhubarb and sour cherry aromatics are again evident on the palate but joined by intense red currants and raspberries. A silky tannin structure supports a fruitful palate. Fresh and youthful with plenty to chew on.
Winery/Story: Hills Collide is a South Australian wine producer based in the Adelaide Hills. It was formed on the back of a 20-year friendship between Winemaker Mitchell Fitzpatrick and Bar Owner Shane Ettridge. They started in 2016 with one small parcel of Nebbiolo, and have slowly increased production each year to just over 25 tonnes in 2021.
Body: Medium
Acidity: High
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Progressive
2021 BARBERA, NATURE OF THE BEAST
Price: $70
Region: King Valley Victoria
Varieties: Barbera
Flavours:
Profile: Phoebe Grant spent her formative years among the 1000-or-so Nebbiolo vines her parents planted that gently flow up the hill of her backyard in Beechworth. As well as performing an array of duties/chores under the tutelage of father Simon Grant at Traviarti, Phoebe has also gained invaluable experience at De Bortoli Rutherglen (formerly Rutherglen Estates) with Marc Scalzo. With such a supportive community of wine professionals in the North East to learn from, Phoebe’s star is on the rise.
Winery/Story:
Body:
Acidity:
Tannins:
Sweetness:
Alcohol: 13.8%
Winemaking:‘I love the juxtaposition Barbera tends to show with its savoury, almost meaty intensity and fresh, vibrancy with delicate tannin. This rendition is from two small parcels from the King Valley. Destemmed, crushed (fermented in stainless), racked to seasoned barrels for 6 months, settled in tank. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.’ — note from the winemaker, Phoebe
2016 BARBERA, HILBERG-PASQUERO
Price: $73
Region: Piedmont, Italy
Varieties: 100% Barbera - A grape with naturally strong acidity that needs to be controlled to deliver its best
Flavours: Nose: Intense at the nose, with fine notes of ripe cherry, raspberry, violet and light mint, earthy & oaky
Palate: The entry is vibrant, with vivid acidity, that reveals note of blackberry note followed by spices and hints of liquorice.
Profile:
Winery/Story: Hilberg Pasquero, the Winery - Pure and genuine products, the best expression of fruits and soils a renowned wine region. (Top awarded boutique winery). Sustainable and respectful approach to nature and human beings – Harmony is what we value. (Sustainable wine grower). Curious and open-minded towards new techniques and new ways of presenting and sharing.
Bioergodynamic - Our philosophy is based on symbiosis and empathy with nature.
Man must not exploit natural resources but rather, like a guide, ‘domesticate’ what is wild in nature with care and love so that it can become useful and benevolent.
BIO: For Natural life and the respect of all his forms.
ERGO : For the Human contribution and the respect of his work.
DYNAMIC: For the Energies that interact in the life plants and animals.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium +
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 14%
Winemaking: Sustainable wine maker, contains sulfates
- Soil Only a selection of different types of soils & clones is able to give a full round balance, (limestone and white clay marl)
- Fermentation A 20/22 day fermentation with the skins in open-top tanks with manual pressing
- Maturation Malolactic takes place in french barrels (3/4 months), then maturation is completed in steel tank to preserve aromas.
- Please give this wine a few minutes to open up its bouque in a wide glass
2019 GRIGNOLINO, CASCINA TAVIJN ‘OTTAVIO’
Price: $75
Region: Piedmont, Italy
Varieties: Grignolino
Flavours: Wild strawberry, currant, and raspberry, then completed by hints of white pepper typical of Grignolino and a pleasant earthy appeal. Light and perfumed
Profile: Another gorgeous, rustic red from Nadia and the Cascina Tavijn team. Big red berries, floral notes, and firm tannins make this an excellent food red. Give it some air to allow the full expression to come through.
Winery/Story: Nadia Verrua currently runs Cascina Tavijn, but her family has been making wines in these hills for more than a century. They farm local grapes and hazelnut trees organically and only use wild yeasts in the cellar. Minimal intervention is the aim, and the results are remarkable wines that perfectly reflect their local environment and the care that went into growing them.
“Ottavio” by Cascina Tavijn is a Grignolino with a solid character, born on the hills between Asti and Alessandria. This native Piedmontese grape dates back to ancient times, is part of the DNA of the hills between Asti and Casale Monferrato and derives its name from the dialectal word “Grignole”, which indicates particularly numerous grape seeds in the grape. On the bottle label, we find a pop version of Ottavio, father of Nadia, who continues and improves the production of artisan wines started by her grandfather Tavijn.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium+
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: ORGANIC (UNCERTIFIED) / BIODYNAMIC (UNCERTIFIED) / NATURAL / VEGAN. Spontaneous alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks. A few months in concrete tanks for the aging, and then in bottle without filtration or clarification.
2019 NEBBIOLO, TRAVIARTI
Price: $115
Region: Beechworth, Victoria
Varieties: Nebbiolo
Flavours: Orange, Cranberry, Black Cherry, Pomegranate, Sour Cherry
Anise, Black Tea, Liquorice, Fennel
Profile: A mild ripening season gave the opportunity for uniform fruit in very good condition. The 2019 shows generous fruit with integrated fine savoury tannin and the balance we seek. The usual suspects of some delicate rose petal, fennel and black tea character are present with a long palate. Already approachable now responding to some air but will live happily for many years if cellared appropriately.
A mild ripening season provided the mid weight frame we have been seeking and with the blend now roughly 65% nebbiolo, 35% barbera it hits the balance of savoury and fruitfulness. For us this is ideal early drinking and ready for the table now!
Winery/Story: After a career in wine industry on the buying, selling and marketing side of things Simon Grant decidedto move towards the making of wine, and focused almost solely on his main love, Nebbiolo.
He found a high altitude site just above Beechworth in Victoria, sitting at 600m, which he planted to various clones of Nebbiolo, looking to create a wine of power and complexity.
‘Traviarti’ is a verb meaning ‘to be led astray’. Perhaps Simon Grant, his wife Helen and daughter Phoebe. These are incredibly structured, cerebral and complex wines of Beechworth’s finest Chardonnay and Italy’s noble red grape, Nebbiolo. In the wilderness of Victoria’s high country, they planted a tiny vineyard - in their backyard - after discovering the wonder of Barolo. Quietly growing various ‘clones’ of Nebbiolo, the wines that have recently emerged, can only be described as magical.
The tiny amount they make can easily rival the greatest wines in the world. The Grant family have long shared an interest in wine, and although finding wine through their sheer love of it, the ‘wine industry’ is not exactly their background. Well, it is now, and Traviarti’s seemingly instant exaltation to ‘cult’ status has us wine lovers delighted. This promising project requires their total devotion and attention, and we are thrilled to see what Nebbiolo is capable of on their high altitude, cool vineyard sites. The most exciting region for Nebbiolo for sure, showing complexity, texture and balance.
Incredibly complex nose that requires a good amount of decanting. Generous fruit, layered with rose petal, fennel and savoury black tea tannins that linger long and fine. There is enough chewy sour cherry fruit to enjoy young and fresh, but this wine is built to last with plenty of tannins, acid and power. In time, this wine will only get better.
Body: Medium
Acidity: High
Tannins: High
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 14%
Winemaking: Single vineyard, Wild Yeast, Hand Picked, Extended Oak Aging, Contains Sulfates
This is an exquisite example of Australian Nebbiolo. The wine is made in two parts: the first is a batch of fruit which is richer, darker and more structural - this provides the base notes of the wine. The second is a much prettier, more fragrant batch which shows all the wonderful rosy aromatics and sensual mid-palate that the variety is famous for.
This is the second release from Simon. He couldn’t be more thrilled. It’s a great thing when a life-long dream is finally realised.
2018 NEBBIOLO, OLEK BONDONIO BARBARESCO ‘RONCAGLIETTE’
Price: $190
Region: Piedmont, Italy
Varieties: Nebbiolo
Flavours: complex aromas of ripe cherry, notes of wild mint and earth and hints of spice. On the palate it is mature and rich in tannins with marked acidity. It reveals a fruity, silky and voluminous mid-palate. It has a lingering and very persistent finish.
Profile: The 2018 Roncagliette Barbaresco is a perfumed and energetic wine, with rustic edges that speak to Bondonio’s unbridled winemaking style. It’s concentrated, powerful, and extraordinarily complex, with notes of fleshy cherries, mint, tilled earth, new leather, and dried spice. The tannins are firm and assertive, though still very approachable in their youth.
This is old-school Nebbiolo with a natural bent, incredibly complex, with power and poise. The resulting wines are pure, old-fashioned expressions of native varietals.
Winery/Story: Olek Bondonio is certainly not your typical Italian winemaker. He loves surfing, snowboarding and has a penchant bordering on the obsessive for Vegemite. After studying oenology he embarked on a few years of travel where he traversed the globe doing as many vintages as he could. This exposure to different soil types, various traditions and diverse approaches in both the cellar and vineyard resulted in his fascination with a sense of place and a drive to best express that through his wines. His production epitomizes the saying that great wine is made in the vineyard, where he works tirelessly to grow healthy fruit without synthetic additions or chemical input. He continues to cultivate grapes that have long been planted in that zone such as Barbera, Pelaverga, Dolcetto and Nebbiolo.
Even if Olek is making wines under his own label since 2004, his farm, La Berchialla, has been in the family for over 200 years and is a remarkable property sitting atop the hill of Cru Roncagliette
Body: Medium
Acidity: High
Tannins: High
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 15%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfates. Practicing Biodynamic & Certified Organic. Coming from a plot grown in Olek’s front yard, which was planted by his family 50 years ago. Hand-harvested, basket-pressed, spontaneously fermented and macerated on the skins for two months (with a submerged cap) in concrete before being pressed off to old botti (Slavonian- Gamba and Austrian- Stockinger) for a couple of years. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
2019 CORVINA/RONDINELLA, GARGANUDA
Price: $90
Region: Veneto, Italy
Varieties: Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara
Flavours: Fruit flavours of cherry and blackberry along with light cinnamon, liquorice and rose. No oak influence
Profile: Italian Valpolicella Red
Winery/Story: It’s a story we hear often: the son and great-grandson of winemakers, Stefano Menti returns home to the family vineyard to make natural wines, on his own terms. Growing up he was riding tractors through the vineyard and helping dad with harvest, then left to study and work abroad for years. When dad summoned him back to help the failing business, Stefano agreed, but on one condition: no more of the conventional farming BS used by his father since the 70’s. He went home, got rid of all the chemicals and returned to the hands-off methods used by his great grandfather. “The wine starts from the fruit,” he explains, “It is essential that the fruit is as pure as possible”.
Italy’s Veneto region contains pockets of ancient volcanic soils, like Stefano’s plots in Gambellara, near Vicenza. His volcanic terroir is different than other parts of Italy, with compact horizontal bands of dark basalt just below the surface, giving the wines a distinct tension and stoniness. Which is very apparent in this light-bodied red that smells like cherry-covered rocks, tastes like tart cherries and cloves and wet stone, with a pleasantly bitterness and bright acidity on the finish. Fantastic red wine for fish, especially with a classic Cioppino or other tomato-based fish stew.
Garganuda is Andrea Fiorini Carbognin’s project in Soave and Valpolicella. Andrea is Stefano Menti’s brother-in-law, a grape grower and producer of natural wines in the Veneto who has also influenced Marco Barba wines.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 11%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfates, Vegan, Organic / Biodynamic (uncertified), Fermented spontaneously using low-intervention, Unfined & Unfiltered.
This is an organic wine made from 80% Corvina and 20% Rondinella grapes. The grapes grow on morainic hills of limestone and clay. Naturally fermented in stainless steel and rests for a period in large neutral oak barrels before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. with minimal SO2.
2020 GRENACHE, VANGUARDIST MVG
Price: $97
Region: McLaren Vale, South Australia
Varieties: Grenache
Flavours: Raspberry, Wild Strawberry, Cinnamon, Walnut, Herbal
Profile: Very fresh and lively, the palate is detailed and powerful with taut, fine tannins a highlight.
Funky & Complex, Progressive
You might be familiar with the Vanguard wines, but the Vanguardist range is where the boundaries get pushed more fancy. A dedication to intrigue, excitement and utmost quality, without any loss of sense of place. From what’s generally regarded as some of the best sandy-soil Grenache in the area, it spent time in massive 3yo Slavonian oak casks. Lush and impeccable drinking that glides across the palate.
Winery/Story: Vanguardist is an up and coming producer from McLaren Vale started by three friends after many long nights in Hawkes Bay talking about their shared love of wine.
Their mission is to bring premium, authentic, small-batch wines to a market they see as crowded by “overly commercialised wines produced by corporates who take up all the elbow room.”
They source very high-quality fruit from great vineyards across South Australia, looking to build wines with texture and vibrancy.
With experienced winemaker Michael Corbett at the helm
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 14%
Winemaking: Organic Principals, Biodynamic, Vegan
The Grenache that produces this wine comes from an outstanding vineyard in Blewitt Springs. A hidden gem of sorts, the high ‘Silver Sands’ vineyard was planted by Robert Rende and his father Michael some 50+ years ago. The summer of 2020 was the third hot and dry vintage in succession. Small patches of rain during critical moments helped the vines remain vibrant, yet crops were just a little above 50% of long-term average (18HL/Ha). The final wine sees around 50% whole bunch, slightly less than the past couple of releases.
A three-year-old 2200 litre Slavonian oak foudre, plus two French oak puncheons housed the wine for about 14 months post press, before the wine was bottled without fining or filtration.
2021 MONTEPULCIANO, ‘ROKO IL VAGABONDO’
Price: $52
Region: Riverland, South Australia
Varieties: Montepulciano
Flavours: Raspberry, Blueberry, Leather, Clove, Blackberry
Profile: This energetic take on a single vineyard, organic Montepulciano is the personal pick of Delinquente winemaker Congreg Grigiou’s 2021 vintage. This wine experienced two separate picks – one a week later than the other. The earlier exhibition tart acidity and greenness, while the later adds weight and deeper fruit characteristics, blended together just before bottling.
Our Monte is an uncomplicated red wine that provides flavour and energy in spades. The thick skins provide a lovely, dark purple colour, and while the nose gives a feeling of power and intensity, the palate opens with a lovely, puckering fruit character, like a basket of freshly picked, maybe slightly underripe, but delicious mixed berries. The finish brings that tannin and those grippy, savoury elements back into play, while the acid keeps the freshness and length going. Pasta, pizza, BBQ, Salt and Vinegar Pringles – whatever, it’s a wine for all seasons.
Winery/Story: Producer = Delinquente
Delinquente makes small batch, minimal intervention wines from Southern Italian grape varieties grown in the Riverland, South Australia.
Organically grown, minimal intervention, honest, hand-made wines that not only are great fun to drink, but represent the sun, the red dirt and uniquely Australian terroir of the Riverland.
The Riverland can be very hot and very dry, particularly through the vines growing season. For that reason, we’ve chosen to work with Southern Italian grape varieties – varieties that are suited to the climate, need less water and are naturally drought resistant, are late ripening and retain natural acidity. In this way, they are more environmentally sustainable, and allow us to make wines with lower alcohol levels but heaps of freshness and flavour.
Delinquente is “delinquent” in Italian, which speaks to our desire to always buck the trend, break rules and do things our way.
Body: Full
Acidity: High
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 14%
Winemaking: Natural / Lo-Fi, Vegan, Organic, Contains Sulfates
The Montepulciano was harvested from two different patches on the Bassham Family Organic vineyard, on separate days about a week apart. Each pick was fermented separately and blended together just prior to bottling. The earlier pick carried a lovely tart acidity and green energy, usually associated with whole bunch fermented wines, while the later pick gives palate weight and the deeper fruit character for drinkability – the final blend bringing both parcels together in a really awesome way.
2021 was the kindest vintage we have experienced in 9 years of Delinquente – a La Nina cycle bringing good spring rainfall, mild summer temperatures and cool, crisp nights. The Bassham Family Organic and Biodynamic vineyard, bursting with natural vitality and life, took full advantage of Mother Nature’s gift and produced beautiful quality fruit – sweet, layered, and with piercing acidity
2021 RED BLEND ‘PIÑATA’ F. STEVENSON
Price: $64
Region: Barossa Valley, South Australia
Varieties: 55% Cinsault, 21% Grenache, 16% Shiraz, & 8% Mourvedre
Flavours: Raspberry, plumb, Cola, Clove, Red Current
Profile: A light, fun expression of the vintage that was. Cinsault’s light fragrance & crunchy acidity, with the deeper, fuller and spicier expression of Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre to round it out.
Lively and round - Progressive winemaking
Winery/Story: Frederick’s labels proudly sport the works of young, emerging artists derived from Adelaide. The designs for each bottle will vary from year to year and each artist will be responsible for their respective bottle. Artwork by Katie Shriner
Steve Crawford started his Barossa label under the pseudonym of Frederick Stevenson whilst working at a larger winery. Now, flying solo, Steve’s minimalist, vibrant vinos are garnering plenty of attention for the lighter shade of the region that they portray.
He looks for vineyards that are farmed organically or sustainably, believing that healthy vines make better wines. And little tinkering in the winery preserves the natural brightness and personality of the sites he works with.
Steve is an exciting producer and firmly part of the Barossa avant-garde movement.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Low
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 12%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfates, Not Filtered or Fined, Wild Yeast, Biodynamic
2018 PRIMITIVO, INKWELL ‘INFIDELS’
Price: $68
Region: McLaren Vale, South Australia
Varieties: Primitivo
Flavours: Blackberry, blueberry, oak, tobacco, vanilla, cranberry, cherry. Powerful wine, very fruit driven and smooth.
Juicy, medium bodied with soft ripe blackberry and vanilla custard nose. Its fresh natural acidity enhances fresh fruit flavours. Balanced red to black fruit flavours lead to a long finish with fine chalky tannins.
Profile: The Infidel is a structured, bold and full-flavoured wine, matured in barrels from North America. Bramble and black fruit flavours burst onto the tastebuds with unholy abandon!
Winery/Story: Husband and wife duo Dudley Brown and Dr. Irina Santiago-Brown of Inkwell Wines in McLaren Vale, are true advocates of sustainable farming practices and are self-confessedly “fanatical about (their) vines and wines.”
The Inkwell Wines are all produced from their beautiful organically farmed vineyard while the Dubstyle wines are a range designed as a way for them to stretch their winemaking wings beyond the reaches of their home vineyard.
They’ve found some stunning vineyards in the surrounding areas to source from, they make the wines at their home in McLaren Vale, then like any great music track, they mix and blend the certain parts until the wine ‘sounds’ just right.
Inkwell wines have a signature power and strength which does their home region proud.
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Winemaking: Contains Sulfates, Vegan
Inkwell’s 2018 single vineyard, hand-picked Infidels Primitivo is grown on thin loam over Pirramimma Sandstone. Fermented with wild yeast and aged nine months in 18% new French and American and 82% neutral American oak. No additions or corrections made during the winemaking process. Minimum effective SO2 added.
Juicy, medium bodied with soft ripe blackberry and vanilla custard nose. Its fresh natural acidity enhances fresh fruit flavours. Balanced red to black fruit flavours lead to a long finish with fine chalky tannins. Inkwells best Primitivo to date.Inkwell wines are organically farmed and made naturally without any additions - only a touch of sulphur at the end. It is their dedication to purity and their ceaseless passion for sustainability and green agricultural practices that make them fantastic global citizens as well as fabulous wine makers.
2019 SHIRAZ, DUNE ‘BLEWITT SPRINGS’
Price: $58
Region: McLaren Vale, South Australia
Varieties: Shiraz
Flavours: Black fruit, oak, vanilla, chocolate, licorice, pepper
Profile: Some lovely primary fruited with a nice line of vitality & lift from the sandy soils. A nice hit of sweet cherry & a little charcuterie before you come to the fine tannins.
The Blewitt Springs sub-region of McLaren Vale typically producers a softer, more approachable style of Shiraz.
Brothers Duncan and Peter Lloyd are making the most of the regional characteristics here to deliver a McLaren Vale Shiraz that can be enjoyed immediately, as opposed to the more hulking full-bodied styles that look best with a few years under their belt.
This is made with very little interference from the boys - the fruit quality doing all the work.
It’s a ripe yet easy drinking Shiraz which will be very difficult to put down.
Winery/Story: Duncan and Peter Lloyd are the latest generation of Lloyds (of Coriole fame) to make wine in McLaren Vale.
Growing up immersed in the hotbed of food and wine culture that is McLaren Vale, the boys have now partnered up to start their own wine project with a stunning vineyard in Blewitt Springs as the centrepiece.
The grapes are farmed organically, the wines are made with a gentle touch, but rather than let the ‘minimal intervention’ philosophy hem them in with dogma, the boys are free to tinker and blend as they see fit.
These are fantastic, energetic wines that have set a cracking pace with only a few vintages under the brand’s belt.
Body: Full
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 14%
Winemaking: Organic
Whilst McLaren Vale is not a large region it is geologically diverse. The Blewitt Springs sub-region is known for deep sandy soils on yellow clays. Shiraz typically ripens later here than other parts of McLaren Vale and displays different characteristics.The sandy soils typically produce shiraz of lifted dark fruit, floral and meaty notes, the tannin is fine yet chalky and the wines are often medium bodied rather than full.
Dark yet glossy fruits, sweet herbs, demerara sugar and stained cherry juice. Medium bodied and savoury textured , plush sweet fruited palate , fine and long , nice density of tannin, unfurling layers of flavour, mulberry and cherry juice, dark spice, little smoky and incense, cured meat and a little gravelly texture to finish.
2019 SYRAH, HOCHKIRCH
Price: $90
Region: Henty, Victoria
Varieties: Shiraz/ Syrah
Flavours: Dark red. Smells of spice,pepper,dark red fruit with touch of cedar.Very elegant fresh midweight palate with dark fruit,lovely tight acid and firm ripe tannin.
Spice and black plums, dark cherries and earth. Silky on the palate with fine grained tannin. Herbaceous and fresh. Delicious.
Profile: Smells of spice, pepper, dark red fruit with touch of cedar. Very elegant fresh midweight palate with dark fruit, lovely tight acid and firm ripe tannin.
Winery/Story: Jennifer and John Nagorcka began the development of Hochkirch in 1990 with a small planting using conventional Australian viticultural practices and varietal selection. The approach subsequently used was radically modified in response to the very cool climate with growing season temperatures similar to Burgundy. A high density planting pattern was implemented, with a low fruiting wire to take advantage of soil warmth in the growing season. The vines are not irrigated and no synthetic fungicides, pesticides or fertilizers are used; currently the Nagorckas are trialling bio-dynamic practice. Wines with considerable complexity and interest are the result.
Body: Full
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 12.5%
Winemaking: Certified Biodynamic, Minimal Intervention, Grower Produced, Vegan, Wild Yeast Fermentation, No Added Preservative
All fruit is vinified without any additions using natural yeast. Reds are fermented in open vats with regular manual plunging and long post ferment maceration. Reds are left undisturbed in small mainly old french oak for 15 months then racked once prior to assembly for bottling. All wines are bottled unfiltered under gravity. The only addition is minimal sulphur dioxide (p220) just before bottling and in addition we bottle a selection of wine without added Sulphur.
2015???? SHIRAZ, TOM SHOBBROOK ‘DIDI’
Price: $100
Region: Barossa Valley, South Australia
Varieties: Shiraz
Flavours: violets, plum, cherry, black fruits, sweet and salty liquorice, mint and eucalyptus, blk olive
Profile: This 2015 Shiraz is a great example of what can come out of the Shobbrook Cellar. Beautiful fine tannins lay through the palate as a foundation for the fruit which sits so beautifully on top.
Winery/Story: Tom Shobbrook makes wines in Flaxman Valley. Natural wines, made by hand from organically grown fruit.
Shobbrook is intrinsic to Australia’s Natural movement. The early days saw him touring the length of the country shaking up our industry with vigour, his visits, and the wines, were exciting, unprecedented and at times confronting, it was a wild ride for which we are forever grateful.
Lovers of Natural wine should, and probably already do, drink these wines in abundance. Those intrigued by what the Natural wine movement has to offer should start here. These wines are exemplary.
Body: Full
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 13.8%
Winemaking: Low Sulphur, Minimal Intervention, Unfiltered, Unfined, Vegan
2015 NERO D’AVOLA, ARCHITECTS OF WINE
Price: $77
Region: Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Varieties: Nero D’Avola
Flavours: A cooler-climate expression,cherries, redcurrants, and a touch of liquorice. It’s savoury at the same time, with spice and a great tannin acid combo that highlights its cool-climate credentials.
Profile: “Cherries, cherries and more cherries” – that’s what our friends over at Architects of Wine have to say about this wine, and rightly so! A leaner, put-in-the-fridge example of one of our favourite Sicilian varieties. Fruit forward, floral, and truly fantastic! heavy + robust
Winery/Story: The name says it all, Architects of Wine. A passion project of architect turned winemaker David Caporaletti, his winemaking hobby soon became an obsession, which in turn became a label and a new career.
David’s aims with his winemaking is to create interesting and textural wines which are true expressions of the vineyard, vintage and their unique characteristics. His wines are made in incredibly small batches, sometimes of only a few hundred bottles each.
With such small production he is able to take a hands off approach to the winemaking allowing the purity of the fruit to shine through. Each wine has a distinct personality that comes from the attention to detail that Dave gives to each and every parcel of grapes he processes. No additions are made to the wines save for a small amount of sulphur pre-bottling.
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Alcohol: 13.6%
Winemaking: Wild fermented with 30% whole-bunch. 10-15 days skin-maceration before pressing off into neutral French oak for 10 months élevage. Contains Sulfates, unfined & unfiltered. Wherever possible we source fruit only from sustainably farmed vineyards.
2019 PINOT GRIS, QUEALY ‘TUSSIE MUSSIE’
Price: 12/ 70
Region: Margaret River, Western Australia?????
Varieties: Pinot Gris
Flavours: sweet yet tangy with ripe, bosc pear, leatherbox honey and peach jam all featuring clearly on both the nose and palate, baked pear, cinnamon spice. red berries, caramel (light on) and toffee
Profile: It’s sticky but not over the top. Gummy texture, has some glide too, finishes rich but with enough acidity to give a kiss of freshness and lift.
DRINK WITH… Pastry, fruit tart, chocolate torte
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Alcohol: 11%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfates, Quealy’s Late Harvest Pinot Gris is selected from a portion of Tussie Mussie A Block, a site carefully evaluated as a ‘sweet spot’ for the late entrance of botrytis (not every year though, it was last made in 2017).
A crack team of five pickers hand-selected the most botrytis-affected berries and bunches over three passes from mid-to late April. Across the picks, Tom estimates 60-80% of the fruit had succumbed to beautiful, clean botrytis. This fruit yielded a small amount of treacle-like juice, which was split into two puncheons–one old and one new. The team bottled the wine with 190 grams of residual sugar, which is supported by ample freshness.
NV SHERRY, PENNYWEIGHT ‘CONSTANCE FINO’
Price: 11/ 62
Region: Beechworth, Victoria
Varieties: Fino, Palomino. Australian Apera (formerly known as Sherry)
Flavours: bright, green apples and the good yeast taste. Salty, saline, nutty goodness.
Profile: A dry, straw coloured sherry, with a subtle fragrance of flor yeast, reminiscent of green apples, which carries through onto the palate. The finish is light and delicate.
Serve chilled, as an aperitif, or with light foods. Refrigerate after opening and use within 4 weeks.
Dry Apera/Fino
This Fino is unmissable. It has all the characters you would expect from a Fino Sherry: lean, dry, flinty. But being from Australia it has an extra weight of fruit that balances out the drying acid.
Pairs well with fruit-based desserts
Winery/Story: Winery is Pennyweight - S. & E. Morris & SonsPennyweight is a small traditional winery, owned and operated by the 4th and 5th generation Morris family winemakers. It comprises two certified organic / biodynamic, dry land vineyards situated in the Beechworth and Rutherglen wine regions, producing a range of solely estate grown table and fortified wines including apera (sherry). All wines at Pennyweight are estate grown, certified organic and bio-dynamic and made at our winery in Beechworth.
The Constance is named after Constance Morris, Fred’s Grandmother. The Mia Fino Sherry was her passion at Morris’ Winery. We might add she drank it constantly!
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Alcohol: 18.5%
Winemaking: Biodynamic
2018 DURIF, SCION ‘AFTER DARK’
Price: 10/52
Region: Rutherglen, Victoria
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Flavours: Dark chocolate, cherry, plum
Profile: A semi-sweet, fortified Durif. Perfect with dark chocolate or hard cheeses, served chilled or at room temperature. Drink within 10 days of opening.
Also makes a great Negroni cocktail: Mix 30ml After Dark + 30ml Gin + 30ml Aperol over ice and garnish with a wedge of orange.
Winery/Story: Handcrafted from grapes from a single vintage, it’s inspired by the wines of Banyuls in France.
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