(Image: Ricca Terra-22 Degree Halo Website)

Introducing 22° Halo by Ricca Terra

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The Story

22° Halo is a visual moon ring and, according to folklore, warns of forthcoming climatic changes. Preparing for change can be unsettling but ignorance can be at one’s peril.

The 22° Halo Blends, a ’stepping stone’ wine, brings together grape varieties that originate from cooler regions of Europe, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, with climate adaptive grape varieties, such as Nero d’Avola, that have forged a reputation of making great wines when grown in our warm and dry Australian climate.

The mission of this wine is to introduce ‘YOU’ to climate adaptive grape varieties while not losing touch with your safe space (Cabernet Sauvignon). Remember, while wine is here to enjoy, it can play an important role in mitigating what we do to our climate.

22º Halo White Blend

Kaleidoscope of Mayhem
White Blend

Varietal Mix
Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Vermentino & Zibibbo

The Story
22° Halo is a visual moon ring and, according to folklore, warns of forthcoming climatic changes. Preparing for change can be unsettling but ignorance can be at one’s peril.

The 22° Halo White Field Blend, a ’stepping stone’ wine, brings together grape varieties that originate from cooler regions of Europe, such as Sauvignon Blanc, with climate adaptive grape varieties such as Vermentino & Zibibbo, that have forged a reputation of making great wines when grown in our warm and dry Australian climate.

The mission of this wine is to introduce ‘YOU’ to climate adaptive grape varieties while not losing touch with your safe space (Sauvignon Blanc). Remember, while wine is here to enjoy, it can play an important role in mitigating what we do to our climate.

Technical Stuff
The Fiano is hand picked. When we harvest the Sauvignon Blanc, we look for green, vivacious characters.

Soil type: Red loam over limestone
Winemaking: Natural ferment, minimal intervention. Fermented in stainless steel.

22º Halo Rosé

Kaleidoscope of Mayhem
Rosé

Varietal Mix
Blend of Mediterranean Varieties

The Story
22° Halo is a visual moon ring and, according to folklore, warns of forthcoming climatic changes. Preparing for change can be unsettling but ignorance can be at one’s peril.

The 22° Halo Rosé, a ’stepping stone’ wine, brings together grape varieties that originate from cooler regions of Europe, such as Grenache, with climate adaptive grape varieties such as Nero d'Avola that have forged a reputation of making great wines when grown in our warm and dry Australian climate.

The mission of this wine is to introduce ‘YOU’ to climate adaptive grape varieties while not losing touch with your safe space (Mataro). Remember, while wine is here to enjoy, it can play an important role in mitigating what we do to our climate.

Technical Stuff
The vineyard is hand pruned, grown on a single cordon.

Soil type: Red loam over limestone
Winemaking: Lightly pressed to reduce colour uptake. Natural ferment, minimal intervention. Fermented in stainless steel.

22º Halo Red Blend

Red Blend

Varietal Mix
Shiraz, Lambrusco, Montepulciano & Tinta Caiada.

(A kaleidoscope of varieties to help celebrate the mayhem of our new world).

The mission of this wine is to introduce ‘YOU’ to climate adaptive grape varieties while not losing touch with your safe space (Shiraz). Remember, while wine is here to enjoy, it can play an important role in mitigating what we do to our climate.

Technical Stuff
Soil type: red loam over limestone
Winemaking: Natural ferment, minimal intervention. Fermented in old Oak French barrels.

Ricca Terra

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Story

The Dare to Dream - Ashley & Holly Ratcliff

In 2003, we purchased our first vineyard in Barmera, South Australia. Our vision was to plant, nurture and make wine from grape varieties that were best suited to Australia’s warm and dry climate. Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot quickly made way for Nero d’Avola, Montepulciano, Tinta Barroca, Fiano, Vermentino and many other Mediterranean grape varieties.

Our vision became reality and in 2019, we were awarded a five star rating in the 2020 James Halliday Wine Companion and again in 2021, also listed in the Top 10 upcoming wineries in Australia.

The secret behind Ricca Terra’s premium wines is to use grape varieties that are better suited to the warm and dry climatic conditions of the Riverland. The implementation of viticulture practices that strive for quality, practices such as crop thinning, hand pruning and hand harvesting.

Ricca Terra is recognised for its innovation, leadership and vision, which helps contribute to the future reputation and excitement of Australian Wine.

Winner of the Gourmet Traveller Viticulturist of the Year, we have challenged tradition and forged lasting change with our vineyards & wines.

(Image: Ricca Terra Website)

 

2021 New Releases

2021 Ricca Terra Pet Nat

Varietal Mix
Uva do Troia. Zibibbo and Nero d'Avola

Region
Riverland

The Story
Have you ever sat in a billy cart, on top of a hill, anticipating a bumpy and somewhat unsafe journey to the bottom. This gut wrenching feeling is somewhat similar to what we experienced when crafting our first Pet Nat wine. A billy cart and a Pet Nat wine are built in the same workshop! There is no owner's manual, their success comes from much trial and error and tinkering! The early days generally ended in disaster. Wheels coming off mid-race or bottles exploding and gushing a sea of foam. All ending in disappointment and tears. Thankfully those early days are behind us. The learning of the past has brought sophistication to the forefront. Billy carts have suspension and reliable steering, and Pet Nat wines now have a perfect fizz and delicate flavours. The 2021 Ricca Terra Pet Nat is a great example of the evolution of wine in Australia.

The Strategy Behind the Blend
A unique combination of Uva do Troia, Zibibbo and Nero d'Avola creates a wine that is one-of-a-kind! One will first notice the light pink colour, a bit like a perfect sunset. The wine has gone through sedimentation, this is the effect of the secondary fermentation process that occurs in the bottle. It is harmless and is understood to be an aphrodisiac (that is a rumour to the best of our knowledge). The bead of bubbles are fine and the wine presents in a manner that is to be enjoyed with good friends.

Technical Stuff
Once harvested, the grapes were fermented together (a true field blend wine). No animal bi-products were used in the making of this wine, so it is vegan. When the wine ferments to compete dryness, meaning all the sugars from the grapes are converted to alcohol, a small addition of unfermented grape juice is added at the time of bottling. This unfermented juice begins and finishes its fermentation process in the bottle, which creates the bubbles/fizz in this wine The final step is very simple, that is applying the colourful label and sending the wine to our amazing customers.

Winefront review by Mike Bennie

Posted on 11 September 2021

“Zibbibo, uva di troia, nero d’Avola are employed here for the Ricca Terra pet nat.

Creamy, foamy, good times pet nat. Raspberry Splice iceblock, lime juice, floral characters, sweetness and sourness in good synch. Compact bubbles though kind of frothy too. Raspberry flavours tempered with saline nuttiness, pomegranate flavours too. Really pleasing, gentle pet nat style with summer written all over it.”

90 Points

 

2021 Ricca Terra Skin Contact White Field Blend

Varietal Mix
Zibibbo. Grenache Blanc & Vermentino

Region
Riverland

The Story
Let's start with the label! Our reputation of bright and fun labels has been taken to a new level with our new 'natural wine' series. Created by Gabriel Cunnett, we wanted a label that was visually inspiring while telling the story of region, vineyard and family. We have also added a few quirky elements to the label to keep our customers thinking (why does Father Christmas and his reindeers get a cameo)?

The Strategy Behind the Blend
The blend of varieties is also quirky! We have used Zibibbo, Grenache Blanc and Vermentino. All three varieties came from vineyards that were hand pruned and managed in a sustainable manner.

Technical Stuff
Viticulture:
All three varieties harvested on the same day and blended as one, a true field blend.

Winemaking
The natural yeasts of the vineyard converted the grape sugars into alcohol, meaning no prescribed inoculation of yeast occurred (this is a naturally fermented wine). In addition, no animal bi-products were use to fine the wine, so it is 100% vegan. After spending thirty days on skins, the wine was racked and bottled. No acid additions were made, just a small amount of sulphur to keep the wine safe from spoilage.

 

2021 Ricca Terra Colour of Calmness Rosé

Varietal Mix
Negroamaro & Nero d'Avola

Region
Riverland

The Story
After spending time working as a viticulturist in Southern Italy, Ricca Terra Farms' Ashley Ratcliff, fell in love with the locally produced pale red wines and how they enchanted the villagers that consumed them in iced filled tumblers under the summer sun. This moment in time brought an apparent "calmness' to a busy vintage. The creation of rosé wine was never an afterthought for the Southern Italian winemakers with whom Ashley spent time. The careful selection of grape varieties that imposed flavour and natural acidity into a wine was paramount. Ashley has selected and planted a number of Mediterranean grape varieties at Rica Terra Farms that produce amazing rosé wines.

Technical Stuff
Viticulture: The common sense of growing grapes is to limit inputs (water and fertiliser), produce commercially viable yields and make high quality wine! Combing drought tolerant rootstocks with high vigour grape varieties should be the essence when growing grapes in one of the driest countries in the world! Such a combination forces viticulturists to reduce inputs to control excessive vine vegetative growth and hence grow quality grapes. The Negroamaro & Nero d'Avola were hand pruned and hand harvested.

Soil Type
Red loam over limestone.

Winemaking
Ten percent of this blend occurred in old barrels to elevate the complexity of this wine.

2021 Ricca Terra Fiano

Region
Riverland

The Story
There is one grape variety that is quickly building a reputation for being tough, pretty and full of flavour! That variety is Fiano.

For a number of years Ricca Terra has grown Fiano and sold it to some of Australia’s most progressive winemakers, but the 2021 Vintage saw the best block allocated to the creation of the Ricca Terra Fiano.

Technical Stuff
Hand pruned and hand picked helps take wine quality from good to great. Once in the winery, the natural yeast found in the vineyard kicks off the fermentation process, which occurs in aged French oak.

The use of aged barrels ensures that delicate flavours are not overpowered and masked by oak!

Our Fiano is grown sustainability and meets vegan standards.

Soil Type
Red loam over limestone

2021 Ricca Terra Juicy June

Varietal
Negroamaro & Grenache

Region
Riverland

The Story
Beaujolais nouveau is a French thing! By the law oftheir land, the Gamay grapes must be harvested by hand. The early released red wine isbottled, only weeks after harvested, and sold at the same time everyyear, accompanied by fireworks, music and festivals. Juicy June is Australia’s Beaujolaisnouveau!

We harvest by hand, ferment in stainless steel and bottled in the shortest time possible from when the grapes were plucked from the vines.

The varieties in this wine bring bright and flavoursome characters to this wine.

All the grapes are grown in a sustainable manner and meet vegan standards.

Let’s forget about the wine for one- second!
The label of this wine is amazing. It is happy, colourful and just makes you feel great.

Soil Type
Red loam over limestone.

2021 Ricca Terra Bullets Before Cannonballs

Varietal Mix
Tempranillo, Lagrein & Aglianico

Region
Riverland

The Story
Mythology has it, 'inexperienced sailors were defeated by enemy ships as a result of firing cannonballs that missed their targets. Such defeats could have been avoided if the trajectory of the cannonball was calculated prior to being fired. Experienced sailors did this by firing bullets first. While a single bullet could never sink an enemy's ship, it allowed for the precise calculation of how high and wide the cannonball should be shot... to ensure a fatal hit occurred'.

Ricca Terra Farms has taken the 'fire bullets before cannonballs' philosophy when it comes to planting new grape varieties. Rather than mass planting a new grape variety and then learning how it behaves as a vine and as a wine, Ricca Terra Farms approach has been to plant small plots of a new grape variety; then watch, wait and learn (firing bullets). When the right bullet is identified, the cannonball is loaded and fired... meaning the grape variety is introduced into Ricca Terra Farms grape variety portfolio.

The Strategy Behind the Blend
The red grapes used to make this wine are some of the standout Mediterranean varieties found planted in Australia. Ashley's aim was to craft a wine that 'shouted a statement' to the world that blends of Mediterranean grape varieties grown in the Riverland would make great wines. The bullets have been shot.. now for the cannonball!

Technical Stuff
The mediterranean varieties selected in this blend were hand-picked and then placed in a cool room immediately after harvest to preserve fruit quality (cooled to 4 degrees Celsius). The aim in making this was to allow the fruit flavours dominate, therefore only three year-old oak barrels were used to store this wine

2019 Ricca Terra Marathon Man

Varietal Mix
French red grape varietal blend (Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot & Durif)

Region
Riverland

The Story
Many think the marathon is the truest test of endurance, determination and self- discipline. The reality is, the marathon is all about self-belief and the knowledge you can do better and making dreams come true!

Over 42.195Km the human body sweats, strains and screams to the mind to stop! But the mind knows better, that being, the finish line will bring unprecedented satisfaction. The same physical and mental challenges face those who dream of making great wines. Ricca Terra Farm’s vigneron, Ashley Ratcliff, has run multiply marathons, including the prestigious New York Marathon. He is also on the quest to make great wines through the blending of French grape varieties.

The Strategy Behind the Blend
The use of superior clones of French grape varieties (which have taken over 10 years to be imported into Australia) have been planted at Ricca Terra Farms to craft this wine. Entavinra and other quality clones have provided a significant quality difference to this wine that reflects the belief, knowledge and a reality that great wines can be made if you are willing to partake in the marathon of life.

 

(Image: Ricca Terra Website)

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