2024 Little Reddie Nebbiolo/Refosco. Colbinabbin-Heathcote-VIC. 750ml
Willoughby Bridge Vineyard and Chalmers Vineyard, Colbinabbin, Heathcote G.I
Transparent plum red/purple colour with flicks of terracotta and a pale rim. It’s very pretty.
Juicy raspberry, orange rind and rose perfume. It smells gorgeous.
Soft raspberry, blueberry and crunchy red apple fruit are wrapped with very fine, sappy tannin. Blood orange and orange rind tang pull the wine long. There’s a subtle milk chocolate/filter coffee touch that gives an extra dimension and makes the drinking experience just a little more grown up. Great flow on the palate, the sweet / savoury balance is fabulous. It’s delicious.
Fabulous perfume, fruit and texture. A great release for this swiss-army-knife light red.
Vineyard
A multitude of picks and ferment methods from five blocks of red grapes in Colbinabbin.
The winemaking methods are used depending on the demands of each individual block.
Willoughby Bridge A-W Old Block Nebbiolo CVT 230 clone planted 1998
Willoughby Bridge A and C Block CVT 230 clone both grafted 2016.
Chalmers Vineyard Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso planted 2015 Chalmers Vineyard Nebbiolo Planted 2019 - MAT clones 1,3,5,6,7,8,9,10 and CN 230
Winemaking
Early harvest Nebbiolo from Willoughby Bridge is direct pressed and fermented in old barrels.
Refosco is harvested on phenolics some weeks later and macerated for two to three weeks with regular pumpovers.
The late harvest of Chalmers Vineyard Nebbiolo comes in a couple of weeks later again and has a longer maceration of three to four weeks.
These individual wines, along with a component of combined pressings, are raised separately until early winter. Once the wines have settled, we blend to stainless and return to barrel for another six weeks with a small sulphur addition. Bottled 22nd August 2024.
