Portuguese native white grape variety arinto shines in this McLaren Vale rendition, which utilises clever winemaking to layer texture and interest.
This is a wine of brightness and freshness, with zippy acidity and a touch of sea-salt minerality. It leads with zesty lemon and nashi pear aromas, with an appealing touch of herbaceous lemongrass and floral marigold following. It’s light and crisp, as arinto should be, but there’s depth, too, provided by a press fraction that has been barrel-fermented separately to the free-run juice (which is fermented in stainless steel). The wine finishes on a gentle decrescendo, with a hint of saltiness that encourages you to take another sip.
Arinto likely hails from Portugal’s Bucelas area, north of Lisbon, but is grown widely throughout Portugal. Prized by Portuguese winemakers for both its high natural acidity and ability to withstand both dry conditions and a wide range of climates, it’s usually employed in Portugal to add brightness and verve to white blends, although 100% arinto wines from Bucelas show a more complex side to the variety. Australian interest in the variety has been driven by its suitability for warmer-climate regions, with a small number of plantings clustered around Swan Valley, McLaren Vale, and Heathcote.
While it couldn’t feel any more removed from city life, the McLaren Vale wine region is inside Adelaide’s metropolitan area. And although the township itself is only 40 minutes by car from central Adelaide and vineyards brush up against ever-encroaching housing, McLaren Vale remains unaffected by the urban sprawl. With deeply etched history, the Vale has a slow-paced sense of calm and an extraordinary wealth of untrammelled beauty. It is home to some of this country’s most beautifully pristine beaches, as well as some of the world’s most forward-thinking grape-growers and winemakers. And with over 80 cellar doors, it is an essential destination for wine lovers – and anyone else, for that matter.
Some wines are fermented in tanks or large fermenters before the wine is transferred to barrels, while others are fermented in the barrels that they’re then aged in. Barrel fermentation is a practice most commonly used when making chardonnay, but it is also employed to add texture and flavour complexity to other white wines, such as commonly with pinot gris and viognier, but it can be applied to any variety. The impact of barrel fermentation is one where fruity flavours are softened and rounded off, while adding in some yeasty, leesy notes, with a generally softer and creamier texture. The wines are typically then aged on the lees, where stirring (batonnage) can add even more richness and softness to the texture, though winemakers are doing this less and less, pursuing more refined styles.
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