2016 Heathcote Sangiovese (Sold Out)

Valentino Range

The ‘Valentino’ range of wines are dedicated to Matthew’s late father Valentino or “Wally” to many of his Australian friends, who migrated to Australia in 1952 from Abruzzo, Italy. It was through many years of garage winemaking with Valentino and his ‘paisani’ (compatriots) that Matthew developed his passion for winemaking. It was Valentino’s passion for life and family that continues to inspire both Matthew and Andrew in making these traditionally made Italian varietal wines.

HIDE

Medium crimson in colour with purple hues. Lifted aromas of plums, red currants and boysenberries burst from the glass combined with an attractive dried herb and spice lift. The generous palate allows soft tannins to glide over the mid palate along with flavours of plum, blackberry and blackcurrent. This is an expressive, fresh and plush Merlot with a refined finish.

Tasting Note

“Most Australian Sangioveses are made from a single clone of the grape, and released young. The fact there are so many clones of Sangiovese in this blend plus the longer-than-usual time spent in barrel and bottle, have produced a classic example of the variety that has both super-complex fruit flavours and savoury maturity. Deeply autumnal red cherry and dried leaf aromatics, a touch meaty, even bloody development, but really lively and vivid on the tongue with more red fruit, a twist of almond and grippy tannin. decant into a rustic wine jug an hour or so before serving for best effect.” Max Allen AFR 19 November 2021

Food

Beef steak ‘Florentine’ with fries and fresh insalata.

Region

Sourced from the mature Greenstone Vineyard planted in 2003 in the Heathcote region outside Colbinabbin. Lying just north of the Great Dividing Range, at an altitude of around 200 metres, the vineyard was planted on a ridge of old Cambrian soil that runs through the eastern side of the range. This narrow strip is unique, not only to vine growing in Victoria, but in Australia. The soils are the oldest known in the country, originating over 550 million years ago. Most soils of volcanic origin in Australia are young and highly acidic whereas these ancient Cambrian soils are near neutral in pH. The range itself is a result of a rift in the sea floor, from which molten rock arose, encapsulating limestone into the lava. The resulting soil is deep, red-coloured, mottled with lime.

The Season

The winter of 2016 was cold with above average rain events recorded. This meant vineyard soils were at full moisture. Flowering coincided with a period of rainfall and strong cold winds resulting in some fruit set issues, particularly in the most wind exposed blocks – setting up the vintage for lower yields. A cool and even Spring ensured the vines enjoyed a good, even growing season. Januray, February and March conditions – cool/mild days and cold nights, evenly balanced crops and excellent vine health resulting in intense flavour development, beautiful natural acidity and phenological ripe tannins.

Winemaking

The winemaking philosophy is one that aims, in a traditional Italian sense, to allow the fruit to have full expression with winemaking and oak inputs playing a supporting role. The grapes were gently de-stemmed to retain whole berries for fermentation. The grapes were allowed to cold soak for 4 days prior to being allowed to warm up gently and commence fermentation. The grapes were fermented on skins for 20 days with hand plunging twice daily. After being pressed off skins it was racked to commence MLF into a combination of French oak barriques and vats, of which 5% were new. The wine was matured for 20 months prior to bottling.

Analysis

Alcohol – 14.6% v/v, pH – 3.49, TA—5.77 g/L

Packaging

750mL, 6 bottles per case