Smidge Wines
Our online cellar door is the easiest way to purchase your Smidge Wines. As a first generation winery that creates hand crafted, small batch wines following a 'berry to bottle' philosophy, our wines regularly sell out. So when you find a vintage you like, be sure to grab a few extra bottles!
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.
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 Pedra Branca series celebrates the forces of nature that create things unique and remarkable. This is a project wine where each year, the wines made are different in variety or style to bring out the best in the grapes and the conditions in which they were grown. The wines are made only in small quantities when interesting parcels of fruit are available and are crafted to bring out the best in their natural flavours. This makes them remarkable and highly sought after. 2013 Pedra Branca Barossa Sauvignon Blanc, 94 points, James Halliday
"Remarkably cloudy, fizzy and alive. It attacks with flavour and finishes with it too, though it seems to dip through the middle. Freshness and vigour are the real keys here though whispers of grassy/smoky varietal character don’t hurt."
- Campbell Mattinson, Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2020 90/100
The Smidge Wines Pedra Branca McLaren Vale Grenache 2018 received 91 out of 100 points from Nick Butler at The Real Review, who wrote:
Lifted violets, raspberries and cranberries with dried herbs, oak-spice and blood orange. The initial sip burst with ripe red berry sweetness, which his very quickly tamed by fine-grained tannins and an earthy, graphite-driven underbelly. It speaks as much of vineyard as it does variety. Terrific fruit.
"Deep red clay/loam mottled with small pieces of quartz and ironstone. The wine expands on the back-palate and finish with ripe, persistent tannins. The shape of the wine in the mouth is wider than its Barossa siblings, but not as piercing. Dark chocolate makes a mark, but not to extremes."
- James Halliday Wine Companion
Magic Dirt is one of Australia’s most acclaimed wines and the pinnacle of the Smidge Wines range. Its name reflects one of the great secrets of great winemaking – the quality that the terroir brings to the wine. Each vintage is inspired by the sub-regional terroir of South Australia’s wine regions with all vineyards selected trellised with a single cordon, single catch wire, and planted with the clone 1654. Magic Dirt Menglers Hill Eden Valley Shiraz is the perfect gift for the wine connoisseur or person who appreciates the finer things.
"From a block of red-brown clay loam with small pieces of ironstone and quartz. It is a wine of extreme length, rich with black and blue fruits, yet it achieves this without any sign of effort. Finesse on a high level."
- James Halliday Wine Companion
"From Smidge's estate vineyard, the soil deep red clay/loam with small fragments of quartz and ironstone. Standard vinification, the result, like its McLaren Vale sibling, a wine that explores every corner of the mouth, ripe, slightly fluffy tannins the standard bearers."
- James Halliday Wine Companion
Our Ulitmate Magic Pack includes 1 bottle each of our highly awarded & extremely limited 2016 Magic Dirt Wines - from 4 Sub regions across The Barossa Valley, Eden Valley & McLaren Vale. We've also included a bottle of our iconic 'S' Barossa Shiraz and Rutherglen Grand Muscat. All wines have been rated as Gold medal of 95 points or above.
