'Spanna in the Works' Nebbiolo 2021

from A$46.99

In 2017 it was my great fortune to be put in touch with Robert John, proprietor of Malakoff Estate, and I ended up with some nebbiolo. As Italy’s most lauded and most demanding variety, I was apprehensive but excited to work with the grape. I’ve now made three vintages of nebbiolo from this vineyard and it never fails to excite me, but it does need a bit more work than the other wines.

Like many Italian varieties, nebbiolo has several synonyms. In northern Piemonte around Novara and Vercelli it is called spanna. With my sangiovese plans for the 2017 vintage scuppered, I thought an appropriate name for this wine was Spanna in the Works, as I had to rapidly change what I was doing in the winery. Purely by coincidence the style of the wine had more in common with an example from Alto Piemonte than a wine from the Langhe.

Fruit was hand-harvested the latest ever (29th April) and completely de-stemmed. Two separate ferments started almost immediately with plunging to keep the cap moist. Once alcoholic fermentation was complete, the smaller fermenter was drained to barrel and the skins added to the other tank, which was sealed for a total six weeks on skins. It was then pressed and the balance transferred to more mature Hungarian oak barriques. An initial rack and return was performed in September, and the wine went to new 750L Slavonian oak casks, before the wine was racked again to tank for bottling in February 2022.

Though this is light in both appearance and weight, this is no wilting flower, with plenty of tannin and acid to challenge and excite the palate. Dried strawberries and rhubarb on the nose with spices and clove, leading to juicy yet savoury red cherries and raspberries on the palate.

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In 2017 it was my great fortune to be put in touch with Robert John, proprietor of Malakoff Estate, and I ended up with some nebbiolo. As Italy’s most lauded and most demanding variety, I was apprehensive but excited to work with the grape. I’ve now made three vintages of nebbiolo from this vineyard and it never fails to excite me, but it does need a bit more work than the other wines.

Like many Italian varieties, nebbiolo has several synonyms. In northern Piemonte around Novara and Vercelli it is called spanna. With my sangiovese plans for the 2017 vintage scuppered, I thought an appropriate name for this wine was Spanna in the Works, as I had to rapidly change what I was doing in the winery. Purely by coincidence the style of the wine had more in common with an example from Alto Piemonte than a wine from the Langhe.

Fruit was hand-harvested the latest ever (29th April) and completely de-stemmed. Two separate ferments started almost immediately with plunging to keep the cap moist. Once alcoholic fermentation was complete, the smaller fermenter was drained to barrel and the skins added to the other tank, which was sealed for a total six weeks on skins. It was then pressed and the balance transferred to more mature Hungarian oak barriques. An initial rack and return was performed in September, and the wine went to new 750L Slavonian oak casks, before the wine was racked again to tank for bottling in February 2022.

Though this is light in both appearance and weight, this is no wilting flower, with plenty of tannin and acid to challenge and excite the palate. Dried strawberries and rhubarb on the nose with spices and clove, leading to juicy yet savoury red cherries and raspberries on the palate.

Campbell Mattinson - Halliday Wine Companion

”Pressed, initial élevage in mature Hungarian oak barriques, racked and returned to newly seasoned 750L Slavonian oak. Tobacco and sweet herb notes lead the way to decaying rose, red cherry and cranberry characters. It's a dry, structured, light-red wine, but it's suggestive of sweetness thanks to its floral and dried/sweet leaf aspects. Drinking it, accordingly, is a pleasure.” 91 points

Lisa Cardelli - Wine Pilot

”Spanna is another name for Nebbiolo, and it is commonly used for the style made in the extreme North of Piedmont, the Alto Piemonte. The fruit is coming from the famous Malakoff Estate in the Victorian Pyrenees, a place where Australian Nebbiolo reaches one of its best expressions. Orange peel, mountain herbs, rhubarb, dried cranberries, cloves, wet asphalt. The palate is less unforgiving, displaying dried roses, red cherries, cranberries, red plums, cloves, and cedar. Tannins are high and granulated, as they should be. Needs a bit of air before it can be enjoyed fully.” 90 points

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