2015 Scorpo 'Bestia' Pinot Grigio Tradizionale

Scorpo

Australia / Mornington Peninsula / Scorpo

Paul Scorpo and the team hand-picked a tonne of lovely, ripe Pinot Gris. It went into an open-top fermenter, 70% destemmed and the balance as whole clusters. It was given a five-day cold soak before a two-week indigenous ferment kicked off. It was pressed after a total 21 days on skins, then aged for 11 months in four-year-old French barriques.
Attractive coppery pink in the glass. The nose has notes of musk, candied orange peel, fresh blood orange, sour cherry, fresh herbs and a slight Campari twist. Bitter-edged on the palate with that blood orange note, with musky pear, peach and strawberry fruit. It has a soft phenolic texture along with zesty tannins that add a pleasant grip. Finishes dry, clean and tangy. Engaging and moreish, with impressive finesse for this style of wine, and with a good volume of fresh fruit to balance the phenolic and savoury skinsy elements.

May, 2017

Max Allen

Financial Review

As the name suggests, fully ripe pinot gris/grigio grapes are a dusky purple grey in colour, so if you ferment the juice with the skins (as you would a red variety), you can end up, as here, with a wonderful copper-hued wine. This has an entrancing perfume of hedgerow flowers and berries, with a gorgeous, rich texture on the tongue. Think of it as a full-bodied dry rosé. And try it with lentil soup.

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About Scorpo

Scorpo has for some time sat comfortably within the highest rank of Australian cool-climate winegrowers, quietly composing excellent wines and steadily raising the bar year upon year. The planning, planting, nurturing and honing of the vineyard absorb the attention of trained horticulturist and landscape architect Paul Scorpo. The process of perfecting the site continues, with closer plantings and more precise clonal selections the latest developments. The vineyard rolls over red/brown, clay-rich soils derived from tertiary Eocene volcanics dating back about 40 million years. The vines are planted at an altitude of between 70 and 100m on a north- to northeast-facing slope with a 10% gradient. It’s a brilliant suntrap with ideal drainage to slowly grow and ripen grapes. The celebrated Pinot Gris is planted both here and on the other side of the ridge - the southwest-exposed slope towards Port Phillip Bay. The wines are consistently imbued with nuance, depth and texture. They are wines which - without ever raising their voice - resonate equally with the mind and senses.

About

Fine wine is in the Scorpo blood, stretching across generations and geography – from Sicily to Sardinia and now Australia. Paul has worked for over 25 years as a horticulturalist and landscape architect, and this professional and personal connection to the land has instilled the importance of care and consideration for environments at Scorpo Wines. The Scorpo family has a strong connection to their vineyard – the unique land, soil and climate are what enable them to produce distinctive wines with a sense of place. Paul and wife Caroline searched for four years to find the ideal site for their vineyard. Having extensively researched the Mornington Peninsula’s cool, maritime microclimates, they realised that this area was the perfect place for their project. Now this family is making the most of this heritage by growing premium grapes to express their beloved pocket of the peninsula.