Wine Basics Flashcards
Puncheon Darts
NV Continental Platter ‘PUNCHEON DARTS’ Prosecco
Price: $58
Region: King Valley VIC
Varieties: Glera (Prosecco)
Flavours: lemon-lime sherbet, zippy acidit, fresh & youthful
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
Profile: Cool climate - retaining acidity and building flavour, incredible length & balance, apertif style
Body: Medium
Acidity: High
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: Low
Winemaking: Traditional Method, Natural/ Wild Fermentation, Some Biodynamic viticulture, vegan, no sulfphates, unfiltered
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: 100% estate grown, made and bottled
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, not vegan
NV METODO ANCESTRALE, QUEALY SECCO SPLENDIDO
Price: $80
Region: Mornington Peninsula, VIC
Varieties: Moscato Bianco
Flavours: aromatic & floral with white flowers, orange, lemon, 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
2016 BRUT ROSÉ, GHOST ROCK ‘ZOÉ’
Price: $85
Region: Northern Tasmania (Cradle Coast)
Varieties: Pinot Noir
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.
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 includes citrus, green apple grapefruit and some minerally notes, light spice notes with sherbet-like acidity.
Profile: Aperitif Style Wine. Pale yellow in colour with youthful hues. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. Contains sulfates, organic, vegan
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.
2018 GEWURZTRAMINER, LE STAGIAIRE
Price: $78
Region: King Valley VIC
Varieties: Gewürztraminer
Flavours: Floral, fruity, rose water & nashi pear scents.
Palate shows the intensity possible from the variety, sweet-fruited, juicy, oily concentration, but maintains a freshness too, though no apparent ‘bite’ of acidity.
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.
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. On the dry side of the PG ledger, it’s pear and apricot juice brought to life.
Winery/Story: The name is taken from the famous line by Latin poet Horace: “Nunc est bibendum” (“Now is the time for drinking”).
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. 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. These are 25+ year old vines in the north of the region, from the Rockets vineyard, planted on sandy loam.
Body:
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin:
Alcohol: 13.5%
Winemaking: Contains sulfites. Whole bunch pressed. High solids, natural ferment - old barriques.
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.
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: citrus qualities, grapefruit and lime zest and a clean and mean mineral structure, stone fruit
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, savory 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.
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.
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.
Winery/Story: Muddy Water was one of the founding wineries in Waipara, New Zealand, and an organic pioneer on the South Island.
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. 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, toasted cashews, subtle spice, and sourdough notes, hints of flint and minerals.
On the pallet the peach, spring blossoms, spiced toast and buttery creaminess. A rich, mouthfilling texture with a fresh acid line.
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.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Whole bunch pressed directly into French oak barriques and puncheons. 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, nutty, lemon, butter notes and flinty stony minerality. Skin contact. Citrus, lemon, grapefruit, honey, stone, apple, pear
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.”
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium +
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12%
Winemaking: 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, mineral, bitter almond hints surround the fruit. Slight hints of yeast & bread
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: 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
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. Beautiful, strong floral scents, a bit of honey, ginger, sea spray, lime juice. Textural, fresh, energetic, saline minerality and chalky. 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.
Body: Medium-Full
Acidity: Low
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 11.5%
Winemaking: organic, nothing added to wines, 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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Body: Medium
Acidity: High
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 12%
Winemaking: Vegan, contains sulfates. 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.”
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
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.
Body: Light-Medium
Acidity: Medium
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol: 11.5%
Winemaking: Vegan, Lo-fi, Biodynamic, Organic
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.
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. 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. wild-fermented, 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 of ripe stone fruit, hazelnut and pine. The palate is rich stone fruits, resin, golden honey and straw. The finish is long and lingering.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Body:
Acidity:
Sweetness/Tannin: Dry
Alcohol:
Winemaking: Sustainable, Biodynamic, Certified Organic. Contains Sulfites, naturally farmed and vinified, 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.
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.
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.
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.
Primitivo
Primitivo is a red wine grape variety that is also known as zinfandel. It is the third-most planted grape in Puglia, in southern Italy. Primitivo makes wines that are big, jammy, and rustic, with high alcohol, chewy tannins, and a sweet finish.
Susumaniello
Susumaniello is a little-known red-wine grape from Puglia, southern Italy. Grown almost exclusively in the Salice Salento area, and in a tiny number of vineyards around Brindisi, it ranks among the world’s rarest wine grapes.
2020 PINOT NOIR, MOUNT MACLEOD
Price: $52
Region: Gippsland
Varieties: Pinot Noir
Flavours: cherry, winter strawberry and subtle rhubarb flavours. 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.
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.
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, aromatics of fresh red fruit. 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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Currently implementing organic practices within the vineyards.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfites, Organic, Progressive. Natural fermentation. Aged in Slavonian oak. 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, red cherry, herbal savoriness
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.
Winery/Story: 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.
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. 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
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
Dolcetto
Dolcetto is a dark-skinned wine grape from the Monferrato hills of northwestern Italy. It produces soft, fruity wines with colors varying from deep ruby to purple.
A typical Dolcetto wine is intensely and brightly colored and offers dark, gently spicy aromas with earthy undertones of almonds – or walnuts in more tannic examples. As the wines are not generally designed for long term cellaring, they should be consumed within three or four years of vintage.
The wines are characterized particularly by their low acidity, which is the source of the variety’s name, meaning “little sweet one”. Those with a grasp of Italian might understandably assume that Dolcetto wines are all sweet. In fact, sweet Dolcetto wines are something of a rarity.
Often viewed as Piedmont’s third red wine grape, Dolcetto has historically been something of a poor cousin to Nebbiolo and Barbera. As such, this adaptable, early-ripening variety is often relegated to cooler vineyard sites where Nebbiolo in particular would struggle to ripen. These plots are often found at higher altitudes.
Nero d’Avola
nair-oh-da-vo-la
Translating as “black grape of Avola”, hails from the Italian town for which it’s named. The Italian town of Avola is on Sicily and Nero d’Avola is considered the island’s most important red wine grape. It didn’t arrive in Australia until 1998. Though many centuries old and important as a blending wine, Nero has only recently emerged as a ‘hot’ mono-varietal
Similar weight to: Pinot Noir & Grenache
Pair with: Rich dishes that will be balanced by the tannins and high acidity, tomato-based recipes. Can chill these styles on a warm day
Flavours: Dark Cherry, Raspberry, White Pepper, Violet
Tasting Notes: Nero d’Avola is made in two different styles. The first is fragrant and crunchy, light to medium bodied, almost like Pinot Noir. The second is dark and densely coloured with black fruits and spice and a weight more reminiscent
of Shiraz.
In Australia, you’re more likely to come across the first style, as our Nero d’Avola vines are younger and therefore have not got to the point of producing more robust wines.
Growing: Moderate to warm climates such as Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Riverland, Heathcote & Murray Darling
Body: Medium
Tannin: Medium
Cellaring: Up to 10 years
Touriga
Touriga Nacional is a dark-skinned grape variety that is currently very fashionable and is widely believed to produce the finest red wines of Portugal. Extensively planted in the Portugal’s northern Dao and Douro wine regions, the variety is a key ingredient in both dry red wines and the fortified wines of Oporto (Port).
In many ways, Touriga Nacional is Portugal’s answer to France’s Cabernet Sauvignon. Both varieties display bold dark-fruit flavors, often with hints of spice, leather and violet. Like Cabernet Sauvignon, Touriga Nacional has firm tannins, is expressive as a varietal wine and shows great aging potential. As a blend, though, it really comes into its own, which is fortunate in Portugal where blends are de rigueur.
In Australia, Touriga Nacional is known simply as “Touriga”, but in California this abbreviation generally refers to the variety’s offspring, Touriga Franca. The Australians were producing Port-style wines long before Shiraz gained traction as a dry table wine and it makes sense that Touriga Nacional has been turned to with quality Australian expressions of dry wine in mind. Yarra Yering’s Dry Red No. 3 is a notable example of Touriga Nacional’s role in New World wine.
Zibibbo
The Zibibbo, also knowns as Muscat of Alexandria, is a white grape variety member of the Muscat family thought to originate from Egypt, specifically from the city of Alexandria hence the name, and widely planted in the Mediterranean basin, from Spain to Egypt and in Italy growth mainly in Sicily and its islands. The Zibibbo is mostly used to produce “passiti”, dessert wines, and its most famous expression is the Passito di Pantelleria from the Pantelleria island, but it is also found and made as still white wines.
The wines made from Zibibbo have a color that varies from light yellow to amber or golden if the grapes are dried and the wine made as “passiti”. Their nose is intense, aromatic, with hints of candied citrus fruits and dried fruit. To the palate, the wines are smooth and soft, fresh, balanced and great structure.
Characteristics of Zibibbo
Zibibbo is one of the few existing aromatic wine grapes. Like Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, its berries contain high levels of organic compounds called terpenes. Zibibbo, in particular, has a super concentration of linalool, geraniol and nerol, all of them responsible for the wines’ intense aromas.
It is a resilient variety: while sensitive to extreme humidity, it is resistant to drought and hot climates, and that’s why recent studies suggest that Zibibbo is among the most interesting varieties to consider in an era of climate change.
Zibibbo: tasting notes
Due to its long history of adaption to different terroirs, the Zibibbo has a great intra-varietal genetic variability. That means that its clones show distinctive characters that change from place to place.
Two main biotypes have been identified in Sicily.
Biotype A produces golden-yellow loose bunches. Its grapes have higher alcohol potential and milder acidity, and can be successfully used for making wines with solid structure and great longevity.
Biotype B has green berries and a medium compact bunch. Its wines generally have a lower alcohol level, a higher acidity, and a thinner structure.
Being Zibibbo a triple attitude variety, the wines can be incredibly different and unique.
From light dry wines that show a nose of white flowers and citrus fruit, to more intense orange wines with a stunning palate of figs, apricot and candied orange peel, to complex dessert wines with dominant honey, dates and nuts, a Zibibbo tasting is always a fascinating experience.
Moscato Giallo
Moscato Giallo is one of the more obscure members of the Muscat family of grapes, found most commonly in the Trentino-Alto Adige region of northeastern Italy. It shares the grapey, musky flavor that is characteristic of most Muscat varieties, and is used most commonly to make sweet wines in the air-dried passito style.
There is some debate as to the origin of Moscato Giallo. Many wine historians believe that it was brought to northern Italy from the Middle East by the famous Venetian merchants of the Middle Ages.
However, a probable close genetic relationship with Moscato Bianco contradicts this theory, and it is now thought that Moscato Giallo is actually native to northeastern Italy.
Indeed, Moscato Giallo does best in hilly, limestone-dominant terroirs, and as such thrives in the Italian Alps. It is planted widely around the region, making mostly varietal wines in Trentino, Alto Adige, Friuli, and in particular in Veneto, where it is one of the key grape varieties in the Colli Euganei Fior d’Arancio DOCG.
Moscato Giallo also covers a tiny amount of vineyard land in Pfalz, Germany, where it is grown as “Goldmuskateller”. This should not be confused with Gelber Muskateller, an Austrian synonym for the classic Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains.
Moscato Giallo’s thick skins and high levels of sugar make it a good candidate for air-drying, concentrating the sugars and leading to a lusciously sweet style of wine. These typically display more flavors of baked apples and light citrus than the more-heavily perfumed Moscato Bianco.
Greco di Tufo
Greco di Tufo is a DOCG of the Campania wine region in southern Italy. It is responsible for what is arguably the region’s most prestigious white wine, made predominantly from the grape variety that shares its name. The Greco di Tufo grape is a clone of Greco Bianco and is believed to have been introduced to Campania by the Pelasgians, an ancient people from Thessaly in Greece. The name Tufo refers not only to one of the villages from which the wine comes, but also the type of rock on which the village was built. Known as tuff in English - but distinct from limestone tufa - it is made of ash ejected during an eruption which then compacts.
The vines from which Greco di Tufo wines are made are cultivated at an altitude of 450 to 500 meters (1,310–1,640ft), where the cooler temperatures allow grapes to enjoy the persistent summer sunshine without overheating or having their photosynthesis shut down. This allows them to ripen without losing too much acidity, an effect magnified by the higher diurnal temperature variation here. The best Greco di Tufo vineyards are found on the volcanic hills of the Avellino province in central Campania. Only eight villages can legally claim to make Greco di Tufo: Tufo, Montefusco, Petruro Irpino, Chianche, Torrioni, Altavilla, Irpina and Prata di Principato Ultra.
The appellation received its DOCG status in 2003. The wines must contain a minimum of 85 percent Greco di Tufo grapes. Up to 15 percent of Coda di Volpe Bianca is also permitted. A sparkling Greco di Tufo spumante variant can also be made, and must be aged for at least three years prior to release.
Greco di Tufo wines stand out thanks to the unique characteristics of the sulfur- and tuff-rich volcanic and clay soils; it is believed that these lend the wine its perfume and mineral complexity. The refreshing, crisp white wines are known for their aromatic notes of lemons, pears and toasted almonds and a lingering mineral finish. The wines are generally at their best within three years of bottling.
2018 SANGIOVESE, BIBI GRAETZ ‘CASAMATTA’
Price: $64
Region: Tuscany, Italy
Varieties: Sangiovese (80%), Colorino (10%), Canaiolo (10%)
Flavours: Spice, plum, and smoke characteristics, cherry, plum and iron with undertones of almond.
Profile: A Sangiovese blend. Fresh, rich and vibrant but stylish, leaning towards the end of the earthy spectrum.
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.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 12.5%
Winemaking: Contains Sulfates, wild yeast, not filtered or fined, Conventional vineyard health
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
Colorino
Colorino is an obscure Italian black-skinned grape variety from Tuscany. As the name suggests, its main use is as a blending ingredient to add color to wines. As well as being deeply pigmented, Colorino’s small berries have elevated tannin levels. Aromatically, the variety is somewhat muted.
During the 1990s, Colorino became very popular with producers for “correcting” the lighter-hued Sangiovese-based wines of Chianti and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. More recently, however, improvements in winemaking techniques and better vineyard practices have resulted in Sangiovese fruit that is far superior to that produced in the past, and Colorino has lost much of its raison d’être.
Canaiolo
Canaiolo (Nero) is a black-skinned wine grape variety that was the main constituent of the Chianti blend up until the late 19th Century. It is still grown today throughout central Italy, though around 90 percent of the total (around 1,050 hectares / 2,600 acres) plantings are found in Tuscany. It is used as a blending grape in a wide range of Sangiovese-based wines.
Just a handful of varietal Canaiolo wines are produced, although interest in the variety is increasing. Canaiolo makes for soft and mellow wine with elegant aromatics and gentle tannins. It blends exceptionally well with Sangiovese and can accent herbaceous flavors found in the Chianti blend.
Canaiolo was once extensively planted in Tuscany, Lazio, Marche and Sardinia, and it still exists, to a limited extent, in these regions. Canaiolo’s downfall was largely due to its resistance to grafting to American rootstock. Therefore it was not commonly replanted after Tuscany’s vines were ravaged by the phylloxera epidemic in the 19th Century.
Nevertheless, Canaiolo has been of considerable importance historically in Chianti. Some authorities have even argued that the variety is responsible for the successful development of the Chianti wine industry.
2020 BARBERA-TEMPRANILLO BLEND, HILLS COLLIDE
Price: $62
Region: Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Varieties: Tempranillo, Barbera, Pinot Noir
Flavours: Cherry, lilac, strawberry, spice, raspberry, baked rhubarb, red currents. Fresh & youthful
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.
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.
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.
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium +
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 14%
Winemaking: Sustainable wine maker, contains sulfates, french barrels (3/4 months)
- 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.
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: 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.
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.
‘Traviarti’ is a verb meaning ‘to be led astray’. Perhaps Simon Grant, his wife Helen and daughter Phoebe.
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: 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.
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. spontaneously fermented. 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.
“The wine starts from the fruit,” he explains, “It is essential that the fruit is as pure as possible”.
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.
Corvina
Corvina is an Italian red wine grape most famous as a key constituent of Valpolicella wines, along with Rondinella. Its most commonly cited characteristic is its sour cherry flavor, as well as its lack of color and tannin – Corvina wines tend to be bright red and lighter in structure. The variety also lends itself well to the apassimento process of air-drying grapes, used to make the famous Amarone wine.
Corvina is widely planted in Italy’s northeastern corner, making DOC, DOCG and IGT wines. In Valpolicella, Bardolino and Amarone wines, Corvina makes up the bulk but not the whole: 100-percent Corvina wines must be made under the regional IGT title. As with the famed Super Tuscans, top producers have not let this put them off making prestigious, concentrated wines, and many top Corvina-based wines are labeled IGT. In blends, Corvina’s high level of acidity and distinctive cherried, herbaceous flavors are essential to the character of the wine.
Rondinella
Rondinella is an Italian red-wine grape variety that most commonly appears in the blended wines of Valpolicellaand Bardolino. Rarely grown outside the Veneto region, Rondinella’s key attribute is its prolific and reliable yields. However, this attribute rarely equates to good quality and, consequently, Rondinella is hardly ever produced as a varietal wine. Rather, it is used to add herbal flavors to Corvina-based wines and to flesh out the blend.
Corvina shares more than just traditional blending practices with Rondinella, as DNA profiling in the early 21st Century established it as a parent variety to Rondinella. Like its parent, Rondinella has thick skin that is resistant to rot and well suited to the appassimento method of drying grapes. Consequently, Rondinella is often used in Recioto and Amarone blends.
Molinara
Molinara is a light-bodied Italian red grape that is used as a minor blending partner in Valpolicella, Bardolino and IGT Veneto wines. On its own, Molinara is fairly nondescript and as a consequence rarely appears as a varietal wine. It is much more commonly used to add its naturally high acidity to other red wines, or to flesh out a particularly rich blend.
Molinara’s susceptibility to oxidization has caused it to fall from favor in modern winemaking culture and overall plantings in Italy are declining. It is still one of the mainstays in Valpolicella, though, and will remain so for as long as the local appellation laws allow.
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
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.”
Body: Medium
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Low
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 14%
Winemaking: Organic Principals, Biodynamic, Vegan
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.
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.
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
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 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
2019 RED BLEND CARAVAGLIO ‘SALINA ROSSO’
Price: $80
Region: Sicily, Italy
Varieties: Corinto Nero, Nerello Mascalese
Flavours: Cranberry, Red Cherry, Blackberry, Earthy, Salty, Vanilla, spice
Profile: Ruby red with purple reflections to the eye. Intense nose that wheezes off fresh red fruit, flowers and salty notes. Full-bodied and balanced mouth, where the important tannins fit in like a glove to a hand.
Winery/Story: The Azienda Agricola Caravaglio Antonino is located on the island of Salina, in the Aeolian archipelago.
For centuries, the key products of the economy of this land were wine and capers.
The focus on local grape varieties, organic farming and the choice not to add yeasts, are the three crucial components to obtain a territorial wine.
A wine that captures the essence of the land it comes from.
Body: Full
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry+
Alcohol: 13%
Winemaking: Minimul Sulfites, no fining or filtering, wild yeast, organic, oak barrels. Aging in the bottle.
Cinsault
Cinsault is a French red-grape variety, traditionally used the Southern Rhône blend.as a partner to Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Also known as Cinsaut without the “l”, the variety has developed hundreds of synonyms owing to a wide distribution and over four centuries of cultivation.
Despite a decline in plantings over the past decade, with stylistic trends moving towards lighter wines, Cinsault has been recieving fresh attention.
The most searched for Cinsault wine on our database is the Chateau Kefraya Les Breteches from the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon.
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.”
Body: Full
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Winemaking: Contains Sulfates, Vegan, single vineyard, 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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, old french oak. 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.
Body: Full
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Sweetness: Dry
Alcohol: 13.8%
Winemaking: Low Sulphur, Minimal Intervention, Unfiltered, Unfined, Vegan
2019 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.
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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: Mornington Peninsula, Vic
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).
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 & Sons Pennyweight 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).
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Alcohol: 18.5%
Winemaking: Biodynamic
What is a Solera?
A Solera is a number of casks of wine set up to allow movement of wine from youngest to oldest. As wine is taken from the oldest casks for bottling, it is replaced by wine from the next oldest and so on through the stack. Up to 60% of wine may be removed from a cask. This process allows for a thorough blending of the different years and batches of wine, as well as progressive ageing of the sherry. The finished bottling wine should thus have a reasonably constant style.
2018 DURIF, SCION ‘AFTER DARK’
Price: 10/52
Region: Rutherglen, Victoria
Varieties: Durif
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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Durif Variety
DURIF
The depths of winter call for a red that’s equally deep in flavour and intensity. Durif is the drop you need.
Durif with all its colour, muscle and power does strange things to people. It seems to excite a passion that is rarely seen. It is for some the only wi variety worth drinking. It is for others an all-out attack on the senses.
Is Durif for everyone? Maybe not…but neither is 99% cocoa chocolate, heavy metal, remedial massage or anything else intense!
OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA
Durif is a French variety, the Rhône Valley its home. It is what you call a natural crossing (like Cabernet Sauvignon). Its two parent grapes are the little known Peloursin and the world famous Shiraz. Both parental varieties are known for making wines that possess intensity, depth and flavour length – something Durif shares. The variety was discovered in the late 1800s and was named after its discoverer, Dr. Francois Durif. While it hasn’t travelled as far as its more famed parent Shiraz, it has found a home in California under the guise of Petite Sirah.
IN AUSTRALIA
Durif was first planted in Australia in the Rutherglen region by pioneering Victorian viticulturalist Francois de Castella in 1908. It suits warmer and drier climates, so is a natural fit for a number of our inland wine regions.
In the heady days of vast fortified wine production, it was found to be of great use thanks to its ability to ripen with high levels of sugar and tannin.
These days, you will most likely see it made into a dry red wine, however, it is also used as an ingredient in Sparkling red wines. Rutherglen is still the region most synonymous with Durif and it makes what many argue are the finest examples of the variety found anywhere, not just in Australia, but the world! The Riverina in NSW is the other heavyweight Durif region, but look out for examples from any number of other warm and cool Australian wine regions.
DID YOU KNOW?
There is actually a fan club for Durif based in California. ‘P.S. I Love You’ (P.S. standing for ‘Petite Sirah’) is a group of zealous advocates dedicated to raising the profile of this dark and mysterious grape variety.
CHARACTERS
Durif is a big wine. It stains your glass with its deep and dark (almost black) colour. The aromas and flavours are similar to Shiraz with black fruits like black berry, plum and cherry common. What sets it apart from Shiraz is that it can have various herbal elements and it has a tannin spine that can be intense.
FOOD MATCH
To match the intensity of Durif, you need richly flavoured food. Red meat braises like oxtail or ribs are an excellent match. It works well with game meat like kangaroo or venison. Try it with baked beetroot dishes or mushroom and it suits any dish with black olives.
Palomino Wine
Palomino is a white wine grape from Andalucia, southwestern Spain. It is the principal grape variety used to make Sherry, and occupies almost 95 percent of the total vineyard area in Jerez. The variety is rather neutral in flavor, with low acidity and potential alcohol, making it a natural contender for fortification in Sherry’s particular style.
The chalky and lime-rich soils, known as “albariza”, that characterize the Jerez terroir allow Palomino to achieve the must weights required for Sherry production. Some of the finest examples of these come from Sanlucar de Barrameda, where it was traditionally known as Manzanilla de Sanlucar and gave its name to the Manzanilla style of Sherry.
Sherry’s idiosyncratic output derives as much from the winemaking style than the grape itself, which is why Palomino, with its neutral flavor profile, is a good fit. Sherry divides roughly into two camps: those aged under flor (a thin layer of yeast that protects the wine from oxidation) and those that have contact with the air (some of which are partially aged under yeast).
Almost all ageing occurs in a barrel system known as a “solera” where, along a stack of barrels, wine for bottling is drawn from the older barrels on the bottom row. These are not completely emptied and wine from the row above is siphoned into those below.
This process is repeated until the barrels on the top row are half empty. These are then topped with with the most recent wine available (often the product of the latest vintage).
Several different kinds of Sherry use Palomino in predominant portions. The dry, flor-affected fino and manzanilla styles, and the more oxidative amontillado, dry oloroso and palo cortado variants all use Palomino, sometimes with some Moscatel de Alejandria.
Only the lusciously sweet PX sherries are made from a different grape variety, that being Pedro Ximénez.
The variety has also made its way 1,300km (800 miles) southwest of Jerez, to the Canary Islands, where it is known as Listán Blanco.
Outside Spain, some Palomino is grown in California, where it is generally used to produce Sherry-style wines. In South Africa it is used in the production of brandy and neutral grape spirit.
The name Palomino is said to be that of Fernán Ibáñez Palomino – a military officer of some importance during the Reconquista, when European (Christian) armies reconquered southern Spain and Andalucia from centuries of Moorish occupation.
Australian Apera
On September 1, 2010, any fortified wine made in Australia and previously named ‘sherry’ underwent a name change to become ‘apera’. Winemakers of Australia acknowledged that the name ‘sherry’ was not theirs to use and gave the name back to Spain.
‘apera’ is a play on aperitif and this fortified wine is the perfect pre-dinner tipple.
Carica l’Asino Grape
The white grape variety originates from Italy. Synonyms are Caricalasino and Carica l’Asino Bianco. It must not be confused with the varieties Barbassese Bianco, Barbera Bianca or Vermentino (synonym Carica l’Asino), despite seemingly suggestive synonyms or morphological similarities. The name means “load the donkey”, which refers, mutatis mutandis, to the richness of the yield or also to the transport from the vineyard with this animal during the harvest. The late-ripening vine produces fragrant white wines with aromas of peaches and apricots. The variety, which may have originated in the Liguria region, was almost wiped out by phylloxera. Thanks to a reactivation programme, it is now being cultivated again in small quantities in the two provinces of Alessandria and Novara in Piedmont. There, it is basically blended with the local varieties Barbera Bianca, Cortese and Timorasso.
Favorita Grape
Favorita is a white Italian wine grape grown primarily in the Piedmont region. It is most widely planted on the left bank of the Tanaro river in the Roero district near Alba, though some plantings exist on the right bank of the Tanaro in the Langhe hills. Recent DNA profiling shows that Favorita is related to the Liguria grapes Pigato and Vermentino, which may support the theory that the grape originated there. Since the late 20th century, plantings of Favorita have been on the decline as Chardonnay and Arneis have increased in popularity among producers on the right and left bank of the Tanaro respectively. Featuring larger berry sizes than most wine grapes, Favorita has been a popular table grape in Piedmont.
History
Favorita has long been closely associated with the Ligurian grape Vermentino, with some early ampelographers theorizing that the two grapes were one and the same. In 1964, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture determined that there were enough differences in the buds, clusters and leaves of the two vines to officially classify them as separate grape varieties. In recent years, DNA profiling has shown Favorita to be related to Vermentino, as well as Pigato, but confirmed it as a distinct variety.
Wines
Favorita wines are noted for their intense pear notes and an ability to age shorter than Arneis. The grapes tend to ripen late and maintain a fair amount of acidity. Historically it has been used as a blending partner with Nebbiolo to soften that grape’s harsh tannins. When planted on warm climate sites, the Favorita can develop minerality and notes of sea salt. Exposure to oak barrel aging can give the wine a rounder mouthfeel.
Cortese Alto Monferrato
Cortese dell’Alto Monferrato is a DOC of the Piedmont wine region in the far north-west of Italy. The classification applies to white wines made from Cortesegrapes grown in the hills which lie east of Turin and cover much of south-eastern Piedmont.
A typical Cortese dell’Alto Monferrato wine is a clean, fresh, relatively light white wine which retains a crisp acidity even in the warmest years. This style is the product of two key influences: the Cortese grape variety’s high levels of natural acidity, and the cooler climes of the high Monferrato hills among which the berries rarely reach full ripeness.
The specific area of the Monferrato covered by the Cortese dell’Alto Monferrato DOC lies south of the Tanaro (Piedmont’s arterial river) and west of Gavi. The latter is generally regarded as Cortese’s heartland.
Cortese is best known as the dominant force behind Gavi wines. However it also plays a key role in viticulture and winemaking throughout the Monferrato, and even as far east as Custoza in western Veneto.
More than 50 communes are covered by this DOC, divided fairly equally between the provinces of Asti and Alessandria. Among them are Acqui Terme (known for its sparkling red Brachetto d’Acqui), and Ovada of Dolcetto di Ovada fame.
Trebbiano Grape
Trebbiano is a name applied to a broad, sometimes unrelated, group of white wine grape varieties originating in Italy and comprising France’s Ugni Blanc, famed for its role in Cognac production. Covering a range of regions and names, current DNA research suggests that there are many distinct varieties of Trebbiano with distant or unproven relationships to other grapes in the group.
They do share some traits; the most basic one being that they are all white varieties. Bunches tend to be long and large, the berries are usually late ripening, and the vines are vigorous and adaptable to a range of terroirs.
The origin of the Trebbiano name itself is unclear. Pliny writes of “vini tribulanum” in what is now Campania in the south of Italy, though in his time wines with the same name were also known in Tuscany and Umbria. Others point to the Trebbia river in Emilia-Romagna (where one of the Trebbianos is still grown) or various villages around Italy with similar-sounding names.
This page represents our default home for the Trebbiano group, including the most common member, Trebbiano Toscano. Umbria’s Trebbiano Spoletino has sufficient listings on our database and the wines are clearly enough differentiated by producers and retailers for us to allocate to them their own pages.
Trebbiano Toscano / Ugni Blanc
Trebbiano Toscano is sanctioned for use in about 85 of Italy’s 300-plus DOCs, but just three DOCGs(confirming its status as a grape of quantity rather than quality). It is most prevalent in Tuscany, as implied by the suffix.
It was once so widespread there that it was used even in Tuscany’s famous red wines. This practice was so common that the authorities were forced to endorse it in the appellation laws. As of 2014, Trebbiano Toscano was still permitted (up to 10 percent of the blend) in red Carmignano.
Trebbiano Toscano goes by a wide range of synonyms in its home region, including Procanico, Brucanico and Santoro. Others only strictly apply to one particular biotype.
The variety is relatively common in Umbria, under the name Procanico, and plays a key role in the wines of Orvieto. Neighboring Lazio is the only region where this workhorse is used in wines of DOCG quality, specifically Frascati Superiore and sweet Cannellino di Frascati. In both, Trebbiano Toscana is blended with its most common partner, Malvasia Bianca.
Trebbiano Toscano in the vineyard
Generally the grape is a high cropper,with high bunch weight and good fertility. It is late budding which mitigates against Spring frosts, but needs plenty of sun to ripen fully, though it adapts to many growing conditions.
The best way to identify Trebbiano Toscano in the vineyard may be that the tips of its clusters are often split in two. While the variety is still to be associated with any outstanding dry whites, there has in recent years been considerable research into optimizing fruit quality in the vineyard.
Grignolino Grape
Grignolino is a red-wine grape from the Monferrato hills of Piedmont. The pale red wine that Grignolino grapes produce is a local curiosity (particularly in eastern Piedmont), and its lack of depth and charm means it has very few fans outside the region.
As a result, the variety has never ventured far from its northern Italian homeland, although there are a handful of Grignolino vines in California, in the Santa Clara and Napa valleys.
The name Grignolino derives from the Piedmontese dialectal term grignolo, which means “pip”. It serves as a warning that the variety produces grapes abundant in pips, and therefore tannins.
The name does not, however, give any hint as to the grapes’ searing acidity. Naturally high levels of tannin and acidity might suggest that Grignolino could rank alongside Piedmont’s two most successful red varieties, Nebbiolo and Barbera, whose tannin and acid structure is a key element in their success. But this has not proven to be the case.
The absence of warmth and intrigue in Grignolino wines has left the variety as a kind of back-up; it performs a similar role to Dolcetto (a fill-in wine to provide something to drink while the “finer-boned” wines develop in barrel and bottle). If Grignolino had Dolcetto’s depth, or if Dolcetto had Grignolino’s acidity, things might be quite different, but fate has consigned these two grape varieties to the lower echelons of Piedmont’s red wine grapes.
Despite the current lack of demand for Grignolino wines in general, there are two DOC titles devoted to the grape: Grignolino d’Asti and Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese. The former covers wines from the east of the Asti province, around Asti town itself, while the latter covers the western half of the neighboring Alessandria province.
Both of these were created in the early 1970s, a time when Piedmont’s wine administration was extremely proactive and highly ambitious. In those days, and for a long time afterwards, Grignolino was tipped to become to Barolo and Barbaresco what Beaujolais is to Burgundy.
But even now there is little sign of this prediction proving accurate. Where brightly colored, tangy, fruity Beaujolais has won fans all over the world, the Grignolino style has yet to catch on in any of the world’s major wine markets.
Although sanctioned for use as a minority component in several Piedmont DOCs (such as Gabiano), Grignolino’s primary use is in varietal wines. In the Asti province, Grignolino d’Asti sits alongside such famous names as Moscato d’Asti, Barbera d’Asti and even Dolcetto d’Asti.
This has done little to help promote the variety, which has been unable to capitalize on the positive connotations of the Asti name.
As things stand, Grignolino’s future is unclear. It is likely that the rigors of economics will perpetuate the success of marketable, popular varieties such as Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and the more established names in Piedmont wine, squeezing Grignolino into ever-smaller vineyard pockets.
That said, Piedmontese vignerons like a challenge (evidenced in their devotion to the awkward Nebbiolo grape), so a Grignolino revival is still not out of the question.
Sciaccarello
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.
Sciaccarello is a dark-skinned grape variety used most commonly on the island of Corsica, off the southern coast of France. The variety is used to make both varietal wines and blends in both red and rosé variants. Sciaccarello-based wines are lightly colored with moderate, soft tannins, red fruit characters and an unmistakable herby, peppery note.
On Corsica, Sciaccarello is the principal red-grape variety for the Ajaccio and Sartène appellations, and is also used widely in the island’s IGP wines. The variety expresses itself best in the bright sunshine and granite soils of the southwest parts of the island. Sciaccarello is often seen alongside Nielluccio (Sangiovese) in blends, offering herbaceous, aromatic notes to Nielluccio’s weight.
As Sciaccarello has a tendency to produce high alcohol levels, care must be taken in the vineyard to harvest it before its fruit becomes overripe. The vine has good resistance to disease, and buds and ripens late.
Sciaccarello is thought to have originated in Tuscany, as DNA profiling has shown close relationships with local Tuscan grape varieties. In Tuscany, it is known as Mammolo, and plays a supporting role to Sangiovese in Chianti blends, as well as in the famed Vino Nobile di Montepulciano wines. Here, it offers up fragrance to the wines – the Italian word mammole means “violets”, which is the variety’s signature aroma.
Sciaccarello is thought to be the parent variety of Pollera Nera.
Synonyms include: Mammolo, Sciacarello, Sciacarellu, Fegeri.
Frappato
Frappato is a light-bodied red grape widely grown on the southeastern coast of Sicily. It is a component, with Nero d’Avola, of the island’s only DOCG wine, Cerasuolo di Vittoria.
The global total of plantings is a touch over 750 hectares (1,850 acres). Of this around 85 percent of vines are found on Sicily. More or less all of the reminder is found in Puglia.
Cherry-colored, aromatic and low in tannins, varietalFrappato wines are light bodied and slightly reminiscent of good Beaujolais. Many of Sicily’s top producers, such as Planeta, Cos and Arianna Occhipinti do make single variety wines (see list below).
However, Frappato is found more commonly in combination with other varieties. Nero d’Avola is its prime blending partner, because of its complementary bodyweight and concentration of color. Frappato wines may also be blended with Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio and Nocera.
Synonyms include: Frappato Nero, Frappato di Vittoria.
Corinto Nero
Corinto Nero is a dark-skinned red wine grape from the eastern Mediterranean. It is grown most widely in Greece and Turkey, but has made its way as far west as Italy, specifically northeastern Sicily and the Po Valley in Emilia-Romagna, where it is known as Tarmarina.
In the modern wine world, Corinto Nero grapes are used most notably in the volcanic Aeolian Islands off the northeastern Sicilian coast, generally covered in most wine styles by the Salina IGT denomination.
It is also sometimes counted as a minor blending component for Malvasia in the islands’ only DOC, Malvasia delle Lipari . It is restricted to a five-to-eight percent representation in these wines, confirming its ranking among the most obscure and rarely-used of Italian wine grapes.
The Corinto Nero vine is believed to have arrived in Sicily (most likely via nearby Messina or the ancient port of Siracusa) from Greece, perhaps from Corinth, as suggested by its name. Corinth was the source of many grape varieties in the Middle Ages, giving its name to the dried “currant” we know today.
Synonyms include: Passolina, Aiga Passera, Staphina, Patras Currant, Niuriduzzi.
Nerello Mascalese
Nerello Mascalese is a highly regarded, dark-skinned grape variety that grows most commonly on the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily. Its wines, which have had a rapid upsurge in popularity in the last decade, have a tendency to reflect their surroundings, giving taut, fresh red wines with fruity, herbaceous flavors, excellent minerality and an earthy nuance. Nerello Mascalese wines often have a perfume reminiscent of those of the noble wines of Barolo and Burgundy.
The variety takes its name from the Mascali plain between Mount Etna and the coast where it is thought to have originated – a small portion of older vines predate the phylloxera epidemic of the 1880s. The prefix Nerello refers to the black color of the grapes, and is shared by Nerello Cappuccio, Nerello Mascalese’s most common blending partner. Both grapes are found in Etna DOC wines, with Nerello Mascalese making up the bulk of the blend and easily surpassing plantings of Nerello Cappuccio (see Nerello Cappuccio – Nerello Mascalese blends).
The hugely variable volcanic soils of Etna combined with elevations of up to 1,000 meters (3,280ft) above sea level – some of the highest vineyards in Europe – help produce wines with immense character and complexity, and without the excessive weight that often characterizes Sicilian red wines from lower altitudes. Nerello Mascalese is a late-ripening variety, and most vines are trained in the traditional bush-vine training method, which works well in the terroir.
Nerello Mascalese vines also dominate the neighboring Faro DOC surrounding the port city of Messina. Set in the hills above the city, vineyards reach impressive altitudes here too, if not quite the dizzying heights of Etna.
Outside the two aforementioned DOCs, Nerello Mascalese is used in a variety of blends under the Sicilia IGT banner, often alongside the island’s dominant Nero d’Avola grape variety. These wines are most often red, but rosé (rosato) is also made. Across the Strait of Messina in Calabria, the DOCs of Lamezia, Sant’Anna di Isola Capo Rizzuto, and Savuto permit the use of the variety in their respective blends.
Recent DNA testing has confirmed that the variety is the offspring of Italy’s famous Sangiovese grape variety and Mantonico Bianco.
Synonyms include: Niureddu, Negrello.
