This 2020 release marks my fourth year of working with Vermentino grown by Wayne and Lisa Smith of Farmersmith vineyard set amongst quartz riddled sandstone and siltstone on an expansive ridgeline at the southern end of the Heathcote GI. This growing season was the first in which organic principles were applied to the Vermentino block, with careful attention to shoot thinning and a more restrained irrigation regime yielding fruit of great concentration and consistency.

A complex and textural skin-contact expression of Vermentino with fruit grown on an elevated and exposed ridge, catching plenty of sun to fully ripen the skins. A 36-day whole berry maceration and some oxidative handling in barrel gives this wine layers and depth. Barrel aged for 10 months in mature oak barriques. Bottled with 30 ppm sulphur dioxide. Bottle aged for 5 months.