Babo Nero d’Avola 2020

Description

Babo wines are made by Australian Justin Bubb (an honorary Italian having spent the last six years making wine in Italy and who splits his time between Tuscany and Tasmania at Pooley Wines) with the idea of utilising the best fruit possible to produce wines of elegance and purity with a focus on vibrancy of fruit, texture and balanced complexity. All the wines are made at a small wine making facility in Empoli.

All of these wines are very well made while still speaking clearly of their origins. They offer exceptional value, and are bottled under screwcap. The BABO philosophy is simple. Source the finest regional fruit from Italy, to produce wines of elegance and purity with a focus on vibrancy, texture and balanced complexity.

Nero d’Avola’s reputation might have tracked Sicily’s wine renaissance, but this wasn’t always the case. Historically, this grape was considered rustic, thanks to the many chunky, musclebound wines it produced. As Justin Bubb states: “Most of the time, I found that Nero d’Avola in Sicilia was made in this really ripe, high-octane style and the wines lacked freshness and punch.” Hence, Babo’s Nero is sourced from Sambuca di Sicilia, near Menfi, where the north-facing, fossil-rich soils and cooling influence of the sea and nearby Lake Arancio tend to produce a more subtle, spicy style of Nero d’Avola—without betraying the wine’s traditional Mediterranean generosity.
Picked around 13 Baumé, the fruit was destemmed—with lots of whole berries remaining in the ferment—and fermented in small one-tonne fermenters. Extraction was gentle, and the wine was pressed off skins after 12 days to mature for 10 months in large-format French oak (2,000-litre) before bottling. Despite the warm conditions, Justin Bubb has stayed true to the Babo style and delivered a Nero of depth and spice buoyed by fresh fruit and flowers and framed by vibrant structure. Sold.

From the winemaker about this vintage: “Purple red in colour, the palate shows plum and dark berries, with aniseed notes, bright herbs, and spice. A wonderful soft tannin structure makes this a delicious vintage.”

RRP $33  Our Special Price $24.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine