2023 Ramato Pinot Gris

Ramato is our answer to that clarion call for rosé when it’s time to move past the Provence and up the rivers to Burgundy. Although 100% Pinot Gris, it may as well be a light Noir. A hint of reductive complexity before blood-orange soda zestiness and lashings of black pepper. Full carbonic maceration and 10 months in puncheon softens out the tannic edges. In the end, though, this wine has the character and fortitude to forge itself; the key is to fight back the temptation to over-make it. Feel free to let it take the place of Campari, with all of the grapefruit pithiness that implies, or just let it be the food- and time-loving vinous experience it was born to be. 100% Pinot Gris from the Scary Gully vineyard. 10 days on skins 100% whole bunch carbonic maceration. Pressed to older puncheons for 10 months bottled unfiltered and unfined.

 2023 Ego is the Enemy Pinot Gris

During long, cool, wet vintage 2023 there was considerable angst about getting grapes into the winery when each was at its ripened best. The upshot was four Pinot Gris harvests to make three wines (Ego, Ramato, and Oishi). The V23 Ego is a blend of wines that have gone into two separate concrete fermentation eggs, one an earlier pick with a finer palate and the other later and broader. Full and rich with fruit purity on the nose and a waxy, honeycomb palate. Finishes like pear drops and a lick of cinnamon stick. A big, multi-layered mouthful of wine that is lush but not sweet. Ego may indeed be the enemy, but it’s hard not to feel a pang of gentle pride when the result is quite this lovely. 100% Pinot Gris from the Scary Gully vineyard, Pressed direct to tank on full solids. 100% fermentation in concrete ‘egg’ for nine months.

2023 Gut Feeling

 A marriage between two is really between three – you, me, and the blend of us. So too with wines, and our gut feeling that Chardonnay and Riesling would make a beautiful partnership has been amply rewarded. Riesling from the deceptively cool southern Adelaide Hills and Chardonnay from our beloved Swaby vineyard were both direct pressed to a 1000L oval barrel for fermentation, with bâtonage through the winter months. Spritzy clean, lime candy on the nose and bright apples on the palate. There is a depth and lusciousness in the texture of this wine that is all its own. Like the two grapes were grown on the same vines. Like this marriage was always meant to be. 70% Chardonnay from the Swaby vineyard and 30% Riesling from Brackenwood in Kuitpo. Pressed to a 1000L oval barrel. Bâtonage in June, July and August, etc etc.

2023 Skin n Bones Pinot Noir

 Vintage 2023 Pinot Noirs from the Adelaide Hills are more reflective of 2021 than the coolness and nervousness of the season foretold. There was so much concern this year to get the grapes fully ripened before autumn really took hold and the vines shut down. And yet, here we are with the wine in our glass, and you would be forgiven for thinking that it was all smooth sailing. Classic Burgundian barns and haybales on the nose with a round, generous, cherry juice teardrop palate that starts big and jubey and tightens to a dry, elegant finish. How quickly Skin-n-Bones Pinot Noir 2023 allows us to forget its nail-biting origin story. Four Pinot Noir clones (predominantly MV6), 30 days on skins, 10% new French oak for 10 months.

2023 Skin n Bones Gamay

Gamay from the Adelaide Hills is one to watch, and the vines that made this one are some of the oldest in the region. A little smoky, a touch reductive, and with a delicate purity that is the hallmark of the varietal. At times dismissed as the lesser sibling to Pinot Noir – a victim, we would argue, of the stylistic choice to serve Beaujolais in its infancy – Gamay can in fact yield a far more beautiful, subtle result. A citric spritz – a common theme in this cool, late vintage – and strawberry steam from a pot of jam. On the palate a chewy, red lolly. If this happens to be your gateway into Hills Gamay, enjoy the enticing journey ahead. 100% Gamay from Brackenwood in Kutipo. 100% whole bunch fermentation in concrete open fermenters. 15 days on skin and pressed to 2- to 3-year old French barriques for 10 months. Bottled unfiltered and unfined.

2023 Amphora Syrah/Gamay

Inspired by the Beaujolais Nouveau of Domaine Lapalu, this 70/30 Syrah/Gamay split is all blue fruit… until you pop it into an amphora and then it’s aromatically blue fruit and terracotta. There’s a vibrant fleshy freshness of Syrah at the top with the energetic, buzzy raspberry lick of Gamay to finish, harkening back to the meatier, charcuterie and summer berries end of the Rhône experience. The amphora softens tannic edges and flavours leaving rounded balance. Not overly contemplative, just dangerously delicious. 70% Syrah from Murdoch Hill and 30% Gamay from Brackenwood. 100% whole bunch co-fermented 15 days then pressed to clay amphora for 10 months. Bottled unfiltered and unfined.

2023 Pur Jus Blend

We have never done a DNA analysis but we’re pretty certain our Pinot Noir patch grafted over from Cabernet Franc still retains a fair whack of the original Franc. Certainly, the wine we make from this site – Pur Jus – gives a consistently good impression of being straight outta Chinon. A classy, exotic, spicy wine with plum sauce and blueberry pie vibes. 2023 conditions threw in a lick of juniper to create a hint at sloe gin, too. Young, bright, zesty, jus-y. This one will only get better with a bit of time. 100% whole bunch, 90% Pinot Noir, 10% Cabernet Franc, three weeks on skins, matured in a single French puncheon.