2020 Single Vineyard Nebbiolo

On describing this alternative variety, Smithbrook Winemaker Ben Rector said: "Who doesn’t love Nebbiolo? I can't think of many wines that exhibit full bodied characteristics and structure, while maintaining such an elegant fruit profile with subtle aromatics. The variety has a tendency to produce a wide range of terroir driven styles, almost all featuring the unique rose petal, dark cherry aromatics, with a lighter coloured hue, but astonishingly complex and robust tannin structure that really sets it apart from other varieties popular in Australia just now."

Colour

Pale garnet, red ruby hues.

Aroma

Complex, dense, lifted aromas displaying intesne varietal character: black tar, dried florals, blue fruits, red liquorice and orange peel. 

Palate

The palate exhibits heavy, dense ripe fruit, punching with serious weight and volume.  Blue and black fruits are at the fore, with subtle oak influence rounding out the mouthfeel.  A seriously structured, fruit dominant wine with big tannins that will continue to soften with bottle age.

Cellaring

With 18 months in oak, this wine is certainly approachable in its youth with cellaring potential of up to eight years in the right conditions.

vintage & winemaking

The 2020 Vintage in Pemberton will be highly regarded for years to come.  Good winter and spring rainfalls, along with mild weather during the critical ripening period have resulted in red wines which have great colour, ripe flavours and soft tannins.

Fruit was handpicked, and delivered to the winery for gentle destemming, then crushed to a small fermenter.  The skins are handled delicately throughout fermentation to minimise excessive extraction of the Nebbiolo tannins. The Nebbiolo fruit is left on skins for 14 days, before being gently pressed to larger format seasoned barrels, where it matured for 18 months before bottling.

Region

Pemberton 

Variety

Nebbiolo

Analysis

• Alcohol: 14.5%
• pH: 3.52
• TA: 5.87 g/L

Halliday Wine Companion, October 2023

Excellent quality, excellent value. This is a nebbiolo worth tracking down. It tastes of black licorice and red cherries, menthol and tobacco, and while it's dry and tannic to close it's juicy and moreish through the palate. You could ask for little more.

The Real Review, February 2024

Ruby red colour, quite dense and deep for nebb. The nose is very varietal—tar, cherry, violets, minerally earth—and the palate follows suit, medium-bodied, rich in the middle and very savoury. A great wall of nebbiolo tannins backs things up well, and age will mellow them.