Casa Freschi Ragazzi Nebbiolo 2016

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This is a single vineyard wine, grown on the Casa Freschi Langhorne Creek estate located 4km north of Lake Alexandrina. The site possesses low vigour, deep calcareous soils with a mix of clay, sand, marl and limestone gravel. It was first planted in 1999 at 4000 vines/Ha using 2 high-quality clones on various rootstocks, with another 8 clones added in 2005. Today there is a total of 2.0 hectares of Nebbiolo with 16 different plantings offering a multitude of blending options. The low annual rainfall of 250mm is supplemented by the judicious use of freshwater irrigation from Lake Alexandrina. The close proximity to the lake and the Southern Ocean provides strong cooling winds, often arriving just after midday during the summer months. Autumns are usually sunny, cool, dry and calm, resulting in long ripening periods. The mean average growing season temp is 17.2C (comparable to Margaret River and Napa Valley). Grown in harmony with nature without the use of synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides and pesticides. Hand pruned and select hand-harvested.

The fruit was collected in 8kg crates, destemmed within an hour of picking, and fermented by wild yeast in small open-top fermenters, hand plunged, and macerated on skins for 21 days. It is then pressed directly into old French barriques where natural malolactic fermentation takes place. The wine is then left on its lees until the end of maturation when it is racked by gravity and hand-bottled. No additives are used in its production except minimal sulphur dioxide. 10 months in seasoned French oak barriques Unfined and unfiltered.

The favourable spring and summer conditions following good winter rainfall resulted in good yields of perfectly ripened fruit. The kind conditions enabled the fruit to ripen with ease whilst maintaining beautiful natural acidity and developing full fine tannins. It was one of the earliest harvests to date commencing on 6 March. Of note, the Casa Freschi Ragazzi Nebbiolo 2015 has the extra level of concentrated flavour, tannin and minerality, perhaps due to the combination of warm, dry conditions that prevailed, and extra year of vine age.

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