With a new label release and a new variety for our rosé this year comes s delicious Sangiovese from a beautiful little vineyard in the Adelaide Hills. Like all Italian varieties, Sangiovese holds its acidity well and which inturn gives a lovely freshness that works well with this dry style.
In the glass, this wine has an alluring black core with a bright magenta rim. The nose is full of inviting raspberries, cassis, spice, with floral notes and grilled meats. The palate has blueberries and cassis, with creamy vanilla notes. Juicy soft tannins carry the fruit to a long delicious finish. This Pedra Branca Separavi by Smidge Wines is juicy and moreish.
This hand picked Fiano was 10% destemmed with skin contact for one month, the balance was whole bunch pressed with 35% barrel fermented and 55% in stainless steel. Fermentation was all wild, with no malo occurring, this wine was then blended and bottled after 4 months.
"The wine doesn't disappoint." Ned Goodwin, Wine Companion, 93 points
The Houdini is the easy drinking introductory range for Smidge Wines. Matured in predominantly French oak, this wine has a dark red core with a magenta rim. On the nose, the wine is fresh and playful with a mix of red/black fruits, dark chocolate, licorice, spice and subtle vanilla. Flowing onto the palate, the wine is dark and juicy from start to finish, with plums and cherries. Balanced with fresh acid, spice and chocolate, the palate rolls on evenly with fine tannins and a creamy rounded finish.
From a 65-year-old vineyard at Willunga, the wine is described as "fragrant and frisky with boysenberry and light blackcurrant flavours sliding into sweet, woodsy spice and cedar."
Hand-picked around sunburned fruit to discern quality material. No skin contact this vintage, as a result. A very ripe, extremely intense nose, clearly indicative of the lengthy hang-time and dry extract in the fruit. Aromas of pomelo, quince, bath salts and wild fennel, peppery and lingering as the phalanx of intensity stains the mouth while the freshness massages the gums. This is a very good fiano. I can imagine it in oak, so rich is it. Drink or hold. Screw cap. Ned Goodwin MW Senior Editor
The 2022 Houdini Adelaide Hills Sauvignon blanc is the first release under new branding. This fresh and mouth watering wine comes from the iconic Christmas Hill Vineyard in Kuipto and continues the tradition of this sought after wine.
On skins for 15 days, with a fermentation lasting 9 days. The fruit was handpicked and destemmed only, while the must had no acid adjustment and went through with a wild fermentation. Upon pressing, both the free run and pressings were combined and after racking off gross lees, the wine was matured in two 2-year-old French barriques. The 2021 vintage was cool and dry and the wine had a certain subtlety about it, so it was French oak all the way! After spending 11 months in oak, the wine was lightly fined and bottled unfiltered.
La Grenouille from Smidge Wines is a Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from an immaculate vineyard in the western Willunga area at the southern end of greater McLaren Vale in South Australia. The vines on the block are approximately 60 years old. In the glass, La Grenouille immediately shows its hand with a deep colour, almost black with a magenta rim. The aromas are not shy, with lots of dark cherries, plums, with spice and tobacco. The palate continues the story; the Mediterranean climate of McLaren Vale regularly delivers Cabernet with power, elegance and balance. La Grenouille is no exception, exhibiting dark fruits and chocolate with a balance of juiciness and subtle savoury notes, finishing with long fine tannins. Drink now or cellar carefully until 2035.
