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.
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
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
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:
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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.
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
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
Acidity:
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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
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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Alcohol: 16.9%
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