120 CASES PRODUCED
Stephanie’s determination to get this variety planted in the Clare Valley goes back twenty years. Nero d’avola wines made in Sicily were her inspiration -‘what if this variety, that can produce bright, structured wines in the Sicilian heat were planted in the cooler but sunny conditions of the Clare Valley?’ Stephanie thought. And so started her concerted effort to get nero d’avola imported into Australia.
Well, this is the ninth release of Stephanie’s wonderful Sicily-inspired Mount Horrocks Nero D’Avola – a wine with moderate weight, juicy fruit and lively tannins.
Hand harvested grapes are cold-soaked prior to a seven day ferment with daily plunging to ensure ideal colour, flavour and gentle tannin extraction. The wine then spends twelve months maturation in French oak barriques (20% of which are new) prior to on-site bottling and being held for eight months prior to release.
Tasting Notes:
Light, bright red, the colour belies the fruit intensity in the glass. Super aromatic, generous scents of violets, cherry and raspberry, with hints of white pepper. Similarly generous in the mouth, this might be medium-bodied and relatively soft in tannin terms, but its fragrant, crunchy juiciness enhances its appeal, with a smart balance of fruit and oak, bright acidity and lovely mouthfeel. Dangerously easy to drink now, will age comfortably to a decade though.
Ray Jordan, The Western Australian
“The Mount Horrocks is one of the best Australian examples of this variety I have tasted”
Reviews
- The Western Australian
Mount Horrocks 2020 Nero d’Avola 95 Points …. It’s bright and floral with a lift of roses and chocolates spinning through the nose. A trace of red raspberry fruit and those lovely chalky tannins make it. This was a hot year in most places, yet Clare fared rather well, and this is a great example. “The Mount Horrocks …
