Ravensworth Estate Sangiovese 2022

Description

‘Someone asked me the other day something to the tune of ‘who are the next generation of newer generation producers who will truly create a legacy in Australian wine … I would put Ravensworth and Bryan Martin firmly in the list. No misses from him. Building a formidable argument to prestige.‘  Mike Bennie, The Wine Front.

‘As a talented food writer, cook and forager, Bryan Martin thinks deeply about textures and flavours. This combined with over a decade’s experience at Clonakilla, has resulted in a suite of distinctive Ravensworth wines’  Huon Hooke, Gourmet Traveller Wine.

Bryan Martin was assistant winemaker and ‘right hand man’ to Tim Kirk at Clonakilla for 20 years. However Ravensworth has been he and wife Jocelyn’s passion since 2001. Finishing up at Clonakilla in 2019 he focuses solely now on Ravensworth in Murrumbateman in the Canberra district.
Clonakilla has often been thought as the leading winery in the region but Ravensworth has gained much success and critical praise including winning the International Riesling Challenge in 2012 and in 2015 he was runner up Winemaker of the Year for Gourmet Traveller Wine.  “..Bryan’s been an extraordinarily great blessing to our business.” Tim Kirk, Clonakilla.
Martin’s approach is deliberately unconventional – he produces a range of brilliant, regionally classic wines, offset by a decent smattering of genre-bending experiments. Shiraz is the main crop on the Ravensworth Estate, followed by Riesling and Sangiovese. Then there’s Rhône white varietals such as Marsanne and Roussane plus Gamay and Nebbiolo. Not only does Martin use a wide range of varieties, but clonal differences across these are also utilised for complexity and tonality.
Everything at the Estate is grown with organic principles and the vineyard is consciously farmed as an element of a wider ecosystem in balance with other flora and fauna so it can develop to its greatest potential. This balance limits any chemicals or other nasties. A little old Italian tractor is employed rather than heavy machinery, and likewise in the cellar, the winemaking uses a light touch. There’s no recipe—a range of techniques and vessels are used, always dependent on what the vintage presents.
The Estate label wines feature a beautiful and evocative label which Bryan says “.. are a take on what we would have as a coat of arms … a visual depiction of how we see wine and food. Entwined, joyous, slightly nervy.”

About this wine: The fruit was picked by hand in mid-April from mostly 25-year-old vines on Ravensworth’s granite-rich soils at 650 metres. It fermented as whole berries in 10-hectolitre oak vessels with daily plunges over the four-week process. The wine remained on skins for six months before pressing and then matured for a further five months. Finally, 12 months in 10- and 20-hectolitre foudres completed the process before bottling in April 2024.

Bryan Martin was an early adopter of Sangiovese and now makes what many consider the Australian benchmark. This wine, along with Shiraz Viognier and Riesling, forms the heart and soul of the Ravensworth estate.

94 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front “A live wire from 2022. Much more about vivacious personality than the more firm and savoury and stately expressions of past vintages – and nothing wrong with that! The cooler year felt here. That being said, tannin profile is stellar.  A kind of crispness and crunch to this wine, more in line with pelaverga or vivid poulsard of Jura than sangiovese in a way, even with hallmark spice, red cherry fruitiness, herbal elements in tow. Fine strings of lacy tannin firm things up, the wine almost feels just a few pay grades up from rose but for its layers of fruit and spice. It’s delicious, refreshing, vibrant as an expression. It does a lighter shade of sangio so well.”

93 points, Jane Faulkner for Halliday’s Wine Companion “I reckon Ravensworth is worth buying and drinking, for the labels alone as Bryan Martin’s words are gold. A case in point is this wine, his most important variety, a single barrel made from a single clone, Mat 7, originating in Chianti. Drum roll: “One of the more successful clones, harder to establish but worth the wait. Like me.” This wine is worth the wait, it’s compelling. The acidity and raw-silk tannins are in unison yet it’s not overly complex – as the vines age, that will change. Today, it’s lightly fruited with red cherries, pips and pomegranate, wafts of warm earth, blood orange and leather in the mix. It’s lightly framed yet deceiving thanks to the tannins and acidity that roll out to an easy, fresh finish.

RRP $47  *Our Special Price $39.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine*