White Label by Smidge Wines
The White Label wines from Smidge Wines all carry their own names that reflect their varietal character and region of origin. Each wine reveals complexity, flavour and structure - big and bold but with a level of restraint that is the mark of excellent winemaking by master winemaker, Matt Wenk.
2023 Smidge McLaren Vale ‘Il Piano’ Fiano – 94 points
Pale straw yellow. Honeysuckle, peach and spiced honey aromatics. Fills the palate with stone fruit and honey notes, great complexity of exotic spices at the middle which are well guided by fine acidity. A full bodied white that has great character, it runs long and the finish is well focused by some subtle tannins 20 JAN 2024
Cellar: 2024–2029 94 Points The Real Review
"From the subregion of Tatachilla, planted on clay punctuated with ironstone, over a limestone substrata. Hand-picked fruit, no adds and fermented wild in open fermenters. 28 days on skins, all up. 18 months in used French wood. Unfiltered. A great colour: explosive in terms of its pulpy, inky opacity and purple edges. It almost glows! Possibly the finest iteration of this wonderful variety in Australia to date. Everything about it makes me smile. Black-fruit allusions, smoked meats, iodine, ample florals and best of all, a broad dissection of the rich palate by ferruginous tannins: burly, gritty and shaped to draw saliva to ready one for the meal ahead.
- Ned Goodwin, Halliday Australian Wine Companion Feb 2021 95/100
95 Points "Really youthful, purple and deeply-coloured in the glass. The aromas are all about dark fruits and then there’s dried herbs, sage, black olive, licorice and a cool graphite edge. Flavours are rich, layered and mouthfilling. Plenty of mulberry, dark cherry, anise and spice, there’s a lushness to the fruit but there’s ample savoury, structured and complexing tannin that gives the wine real definition, length and seriousness. A really delicious wine 01 MAY 2021" Aaron Brasher The Real Review
"A grand man in stature and personality with a commanding presence and cheeky humour he was passionate, unstoppable, generous to the core, and according to many ahead of his time. It seems appropriate that our Mclaren Vale Shiraz shares many rich characteristics of this great man whose memory remains a legend among us Smidge Wines are a tribute to the small things in life that make it all worthwhile" - Matt Wenk
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.
Aromas of blackberries, licorice, dried herbs, plums and spice. Flavours are full and rich, certainly in the dark fruit spectrum, but there is also a minty coolness to the palate as well as quite grippy and textured tannins and lively acidity that keep the flavours fresh and focused - Aaron Brasher The Real Review 93/100
The GruVe from Smidge Wines was one of the first wines under the Smidge Label. The name comes from Matt and Trish finding their own ‘groove’ – dancing to the beat of their own drum. With the 2016 vintage, although the season was dry and warm, the night time temperatures were often low, which maintained freshness and acidity in many varieties, including Grüner. A much-needed rain at the end of January freshened everything up and many varieties finished ripening well. The 2016 GruVe has been made in a similar fashion to previous vintages, although unlike the 2015, it is dry. Whole bunch pressed, no acid addition, wild yeast fermentation and then 6 months on yeast lees. Bottled mid-October.
The Gutsy from Smidge Wines is from the cooler 2017 vintage. There was plenty of hang time for the fruit in this Kuitpo vineyard which is a westerly facing block full of red/brown clay loam soils mottled with quartz. Matt picked the fruit on a Monday as although the forecast predicted 5mm of rain on a Tuesday, he had a different feeling. The weather brought 42mm of rain and showers for the rest of the week. Handpicked, destemmed and on skins for 28 days, The Gutsy has had a wild yeast ferment, drained and pressed with the free run and pressings being combined. It then spent 20 months in Fine-Grained French puncheon and barrique, approximately 40% new (all 500L puncheons). Unfiltered and bottled in December 2018. And it’s vegan-friendly. Drink now and/or buy a couple of extra bottles to cellar until 2030.
