Lino Ramble / McLaren Vale

From the Hatwell Family Foggo Road vineyard.  Vale Shiraz but not as you know it – a brief 5 day skin contact, 10% Nero d’Avola blended in and no oak used at all.  Such a light and fresh iteration, a juxtaposition to the regional norm.

“We get both freshness and flavour here, all within a 12.6% alcohol package. Boysenberry, black cherry and iodine characters comes laced with raw (low level) cedar, sweet spice and earth. It all chugs along nicely, a kind of grainy, grippy aspect giving your palate something to hold onto. Nice one.” 90 points, Campbell Mattinson, Winefront

From vineyards in the Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu regions.  Skin contact is kept to a minimum, fermented wild and raised entirely in stainless steel.

Pushes back against the neutrality of some Grigios, with zippy acid, decent flavour weight and a nice mineral snap down the middle.  Honeysuckle, nashi pears and apples, refreshing and zesty.

Grown in Chalk Hill Viticulture’s Lanark Vineyard.  Minimal skin contact, with free run juice and light pressings to create a fresh and fruit driven style with minimal phenolics. Lifted citrus, nashi pear and apricot with an enlivening acid backbone.

“First release was (very) good. This second release is better. This is where loveliness meets sophistication. It’s flinty, tight, a bit funky, lashed with grapefruit pulp and apple-like flavours and has plenty of grip too. So much personality. So well-suited to food. We’re onto something good here.” 93 points, Campbell Mattinson, Winefront

This ancient Sicilian variety is grown in Chalk Hill Viticulture’s Lanark Vineyard.  Fun fact – Grillo also serves as the base grape variety of Marsala.  Two days of skin contact, wild fermented in old French oak hogsheads.  Full malolactic fermentation with periodic lees stirring.  Rests in seasoned oak 11 months before bottling.

“Yellow colour and personality plus. This is a (good) experience. Florals, chalks, stone fruits, custard powder and herbs. So much going on. Picky a flavour, any flavour. Finish is dry and grippy but with flavour cascading through. Excellent.” 92 points, Campbell Mattinson, Winefront

Grown in Paxton’s Hilltop Vineyard.  60% of the wine remained on skins in French oak foudres, hand plunging twice daily until completion of fermentation.  90 days later it was combined with the pressings component, followed by 11 months maturation in oak, with periodic lees stirring.  100% malolactic fermentation and bottled with minimal sulphur.

The vineyard is surrounded by gum trees which lends a herbal character through the nose and palate, alongside dried flowers and lavendar.  Has a great shape and drive, highly aromatic and a pulpy quality occasionally seen with this variety.  Treads the line well between tension and richness.

“The aromatics on this wine are quite something. Lino Ramble is such an excellent producer.  Citrus blossoms and pure citrus but with, as vague as this might sound, a botanical twist. Citrus oil-like notes with peppermint tossed through, the palate then showing dry pear, lime and more of those blossomy peppermint-like notes. It carries a rush of acidity but it has the weight, texture and flavour to carry it. I’m not arguing that this is a great wine but, even so, I came away enthralled.” 92 points, Campbell Mattinson, Winefront

Grown in Paxton’s Hilltop Vineyard.  100% Nero d’Avola, Novello being an Italian style of wine which sits between rosato/rosé and dry red.  Takes a chill well or drink ambient, absolutely fun juice here.  Ultra-raspberries and red berry spectrum, a huge lift of perfume in the mouth, and made with just enough skin contact to give colour it’s light on tannins so makes an excellent partner for spicy foods.

Grown in Chalk Hill’s California Road vineyard, Bastardo is of Portugese origin, though has perhaps found more notoriety by its other moniker of Trousseau in France’s Jura.  Bastardo is obviously the cooler name so let’s keep with that.   25% whole bunch, 90 days skin contact, and a portion of carbonic maceration for aromatic lift.  A lithe and fine style of almost Pinot weight, it’s a wrap of dried herbs and cherries, rather savoury, and carries an ashy mineral quality.  Pretty and super intriguing.

“Tough year, picked earlier by the looks, but the wine has come through. This is just a lovely wine to drink. Refreshment, with character. Both juicy and acidic but with leather, red/black cherry and woodsy herb flavours aplenty. It smells great and the palate fulfils the promise. Velvety tannin completes a most enjoyable picture.” 92 points, Campbell Mattinson, Winefront

Grown on the Miracle Hill Vineyard, McLaren Flat.  Open fermented using indigenous yeasts, 16 days on skins.  Matured in hogsheads and puncheon for 12 months, all French oak, 20% new and 80% seasoned.

“This is a particularly smooth Sangiovese, its texture creamy and the overall impression one of polish. Cherry plum flavours with roasted spice notes roll attractively through the palate, cedarwood notes rising on the finish. It’s still in the process of bedding itself properly down but it’s good drinking already and, over the next few years, will only get better.” 91 points, Campbell Mattinson, Winefront

A Georgian variety, ‘Saperavi’ translates as ‘ink’, befitting its deep colour.  An inherently highly tannic variety, the wine is wild fermented in seasoned French oak with seven days skin contact.  Grown on Chalk Hill’s California Road vineyard.

“This is both stern and well fruited. It can easily be consumed now, if you enjoy a bit of tannin, but you’d imagine that it’s best days are well ahead of it. It tastes of rust and black cherries, dried herbs and seaweed, leather and and just a little malt. It’s satisfying, for certain, and more.” 92 points, Campbell Mattinson, Winefront