But when you sit around with the Chalmers Girls you are very likely drinking a white or a rose. Ok there are some light reds that might come out a bit later in the night.

So I had been drinking mostly reds up to meeting them, having lived in McLaren Vale the last 6 years, and found myself in the minority.

During #bucketwine project we would be tasting unfinished reds and the Girls would say ‘see this is how I want to drink my red.’

‘But its not finished’ I would say.

After Malo-lactic fermentation was complete with these wines, and they were bottled, I would get reminded that some of the reds were so much more alive, vibrant and fresh before the Malo.

When Chalmers did a side project in 2011 called St Marty’s Vino Nuovo, an unfiltered and un-malo’d Heathcote Nero d’Avola) it was clear to them that there is a place for these wines. Also the stability of them seems not to much to worry about since St Marty is still drinking ok 5 years later.

So during the #bucketwine project there were a few reds that looked better than others before malo and that has a lot to do with the natural acidity and balance of those wines and could change season to season.

Now we are in the 2016 vintage and we are leaning over a freshly pressed Schioppettino. As always we are all discussing the wine and its future in the Australian wine industry, Chalmers girls making the big calls ‘this variety could be the next big thing,’ ‘its got every thing,’ and ‘planted in the right site it’s a winner.’

And I’m standing there thinking I can’t agree more its bloody delicious and has so much to offer.

As we stand in our shed (the winery) and we are getting excited about taking over the world one bottle of schioppettino at a time, there it is the by now famous question ‘should we just sulphur it now? Its bloody delicious who wouldn’t want to drink this?’

Ok, hang on, I can hear myself say before the sulphur gets tipped in, its really nice and I see what you are saying freshness/vibrancy, but I think it will be great after going through malo and we will still keep those characters and have a bit more red-winey completeness (is that even a thing, red winey?) .

It wouldn’t be project wine if we were just making stock standard stuff so right there and than hanging over a little tank we made the No Malo versus The Malo project and hope to answer some questions and get some confirmation about this subject.

Can’t wait to hear what the people think about the wines tasted side by side.

Bart.

North eastern Italy with it’s areas of white stony soils in the far east, high altitude in the sub-alpine valleys of the north, generally high annual rainfall and humid summers in the lower lying areas seems a long way from inland Australia in terms of terroir.  And it is.  But we found that these North Eastern Italian varieties thrive in our Merbein vineyard and make some pretty cracking wines without the need for diddling about in the winemaking process.

Many of them seem to love the heat (although not all) and as long as they are sheltered from the harsh sun by the canopy, and not let to dry out too much, they can be harvested early to make low alcohol, fresh wine styles in the harsh Aussie summers.  Often in their homeland these varieties can be lean and green in cooler seasons so the warm climates are a good option for achieving more fruity styles without being overripe.

The red grapes of this area seem to be softer and more plush than the classic tannic/acidic profile of the more famous Italian red grapes and many of the whites have lovely aromatics and bright fruit profiles.  When these aspects are combined with the freshness from early harvest and the ripeness from the hot climate – delicious wine ensues!

So from the success of a number of #bucketwines from these NE Italian grapes we have stepped the R&D up a notch.  Today we are planting a 1.3Ha patch made up of six different varieties at our Heathcote vineyard in the northern part of the GI on the Mt Camel Range.

The winners are:  Garganega from the Veneto, Nosiola from Trentino, Malvasia Istriana from Friuli in the whites and Pavana from Trentino & Veneto, Schioppettino and Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso from Friuli in the reds.

It will take a couple of seasons to see any grapes from this new block but we are excited to make some wines from Heathcote where the warm summers are slightly less ferocious and the rainfall is about double.  Should be very interesting!  I’m sure there will be a few adventurous winemakers interested in getting their hands on some of these grapes too.

#bucketwine research outcomes in action – watch this space…

Cheers, Kim

*typo alert: schioppettino mis-spelt on the tag in the image.