$43.99
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Region: Murrumbateman, NSW
Grapes: Sangiovese
First Glance: Fine-boned, dusty tannin, lifted red berry perfume
Acclaim: 94 Points
A small family run winery in Murrumbateman just north of Canberra, Ravensworth is making supremely elegant wines with a deft but light touch in the cellar. The climate here is quite cool due to the elevation of around 600 metres, and this shows in the finesse and detail of the wines.
While 2020 was a devastating year for the winery with wild fires and drought, the current-release 2021 and 2022 vintages were welcome returns to cooler and wetter conditions, with good fruit set and well balanced wines.
This rendition of Sangiovese sits among the more elegant expressions of the variety. Think more Chianti than Montalcino, if you will. Very fine and lifted style. One of the flagship wines of the Ravensworth range, the fruit is sourced from mostly 25-year-old vines grown on granite soils at 650 metres elevation. It was processed as whole berries and spent six months on skins in cuve before pressing. It was racked in January and spent a further year in foudre before being bottled unfined and unfiltered.
The review:
94 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
This spends six months on skins, off the organic-farmed estate vines. All in big barrel. What a thing. This is often a high water mark for sangio in Aus.
Attractive pale garnet colour in the glass. Supple, sweet cherry set amongst bergamot tea (and tea tannin) with dried herbs, sour plum, licks of vanilla and a cool, faintly minty element. It’s lighter weighted than those words suggest, shy of medium weight, fine boned, structured and finishes long and with sweet spices. It’s not as chewy and firm as you’d expect, but the freshness and lift is lovely. Excellent, in a word.
