Winemakers Reserve Fiano from Berton Vineyards 2020
A lifted floral bouquet, with exotic notes of lychee, pineapple and subtle herbaceous aromas leads to a zesty, textured palate with crisp citrus flavours.
Producer Note - Established by Bob and Cherie Berton in May 1996, Berton Vineyard is one of Hallgarten's most important partners. The estate covers 30 hectares of land located on gently rolling hills at 450 metres above sea level, in a subregion of Eden Valley in South Australia. The superb Reserve Shiraz and Reserve Chardonnay wines are still sourced from this plot. In 2007, Bob purchased the Yenda winery in the heart of the Riverina. This state-of-the-art facility has the capacity to process 20,000 tonnes and enables Berton Vineyard to produce value for money wines that sit alongside their premium single vineyard offerings. Vintage The 2016 vintage in the Riverina saw a poor start due to high rainfall in late January. As such many varieties were harvested slightly earlier than usual in order to prevent diseases such as botrytis and acid rot from setting in. The Fiano fruit was harvested at 11 degrees Baumé on 21 February; it was clean and fresh, with delicate flavours.
Vineyard - Fiano is native to Campania in Italy, but this early ripening and relatively low yielding variety have been really flourishing in the Australian climate for the past few decades. The Fiano grapes for this wine come from the Torino vineyard near the village of Tharbogang in the Riverina, New South Wales. The vines are grown on sandy soil with clay subsoils. As the climate is hot and dry, drip irrigation is required to nourish the vines. The vineyard rows are orientated to face north to south and the vines are trellised on a double wire and spur pruned. The grapes are machine harvested when they have reached the optimum levels of maturity.
Winemaking - One of the winemaker's favourites, Fiano was initially used in blending and adding interest to some of the other varieties. After years of outstanding quality, the Winemakers Reserve Fiano has been released. The Fiano grapes were pressed immediately and the must was fermented until it was bone dry in stainless steel temperature controlled tanks. The philosophy with this wine was to retain the fresh, varietal characteristics with little intervention.
Tasting Note - A lovely example of the Fiano grape, with its lifted floral bouquet, exotic tropical notes of lychee, pineapple and subtle herbaceous aromas. The zesty, textured palate is perfectly balanced and combines beautifully with the crisp citrus flavours.
Serving Suggestion - Pan-seared scallops or prawn cocktail.
Grape Fiano 95%, Sauvignon Blanc 5%
Awards Top 100, Wine Merchant , 2018
Winemaker: James Ceccato
Region: South East Australia Subregion: South East Australia Country: Australia
Alcohol: 12%
Dry/Sweetvalue: 2 (1 is dry, 7 is very sweet)
Residual Sugar: 1.5
Contains Sulphites: Yes
Vegetarian/Vegan: No/No
Milk/Eggs: No/No
Organic/Biodynamic No/No
