Mike Bennie reviews Ruggabellus latest releases on www.winefront.com.au
posted on 16 October 2018
Ruggabellus SALLIO 2016
Arguably Australia’s greatest orange wine, let alone that it’s a great wine. If orange wine is an intimidating phrase or proposition, then let’s just say this is a profound, textural white wine. The detail and care to bring this to life is epic, notwithstanding its elder siblings in Quomodo and Solumodo are outstanding too, and born from equal consideration. Winemaker Abe Gibson looks to nth degree in vineyard and winemaking expression. The shepherding to bottle, and patience, is worthy and vindicated clearly. So many producers seem to rush skin macerated white wines to market, this could be the benchmark for those on the learning curve. And look at that pricing…
More or less equal parts semillon, muscat and riesling from old vines, spends an average of 3.5 days on skins, but there’s larger and smaller time frames in the mix. Rests on lees for a year, then just as juice for a year. Gush, gush, gush. See for yourself.
Profoundly complex wine with its texture distinct and superb. It sits assertive in the palate, a sense of sculpted chalk with an inward juiciness and a distinct array of primary fruit and savouriness intermingled. Reverse up to the bouquet, if you can keep your mouth off the glass, and there’s brown lime, sea spray, blanched almond or nut milk, ginger and preserved citrus boldly jostling away. That drive and precision across the palate is the thing, though, and the pool of saline and tonic tang to close the clincher. A crawl over glass kind of wine.
Rated : 96+ Points
Tasted : OCT18
Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : $28
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2018 – 2030+
Ruggabellus QUOMODO 2016
What a suite of wines this 2016 white and 2017 red wine Ruggabellus release is. I’ll go on record saying it’s been the best/most interesting/satisfying collection I’ve seen in the calendar year, to use a pithy landmark in a non-linear scheme. Baseline is, if you like great wine, fine wine, or wine from one of the most progressive and thoughtful winemakers going around, then you’ll find yourself sitting in front of one of these bottles.
This is 95% old vine riesling with a splash of the Sallio 2016 semillon and muscat in the mix, for perfume and texture, or seasoning. The riesling component spends two years on lees – something else. About six days on skins too. Always tinkering and re-touching is Abe Gibson, When I think of Abe Gibson’s winemaking I imagine him as if using tiny paintbrushes on those miniature models Warhammer freaks paint on as if a fetish. Regardless, this results in one of Australia’s new era, great white wines.
So much going on here in such a compact and succulent frame. Perfume is voluminous showing ginger, honeysuckle flowers, sweet lemon and faint talc-like scents. The palate rushes in a chewy flow of citrus tangled with chalk and almond. There’s bite of acidity under it all too – a thirst-quenching sluice acting as counterbalance to the Flavour Town of primary fruit. It’s delicious, intellectual, fantastic to pore (pour) over, and over.
Rated : 95+ Points
Tasted : OCT18
Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : $45
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2018 – 2030+
Ruggabellus SOLUMODO 2016
The ‘dark orange’ wine in the trio of Ruggabellus’ orange wines, alongside Quomodoand Sallio. This is 68% semillon, 28% riesling, 4% muscat with an average of 236 days on skins, though the semillon component sees a full year of skin maceration. The wine hits the market a full two and a half years after harvest. Remarkable patience offset against a culture of impatience and ready to drink mentality in some of the avant garde sects of Australian wine. It’s the full textural experience here. It deserves cellaring or time in decanter, and then some. Old vines, low yields, careful selection of fruit underpin the winemaking story.
Chewy, chalky, powdery texture blast across the palate with mature citrus flavours, dried apple, ginger tea and chamomile characters reverberating between bouquet and palate. While sniffs on the wine parlay complexity, savouriness, ‘tonic’ and non-fruit character, the palate convinces you both can co-exist. It’s mouth-watering, tasty in the way any detailed wine can be, exceptionally long, speaking of fine wine with a punky ethos. Hello Vivienne Westwood. The thing is, the more you spend time with the wine, the more you realise you’re drinking a wine in Acts – a wonderful thing too. Superb wine made from white grapes.
Rated : 96+ Points
Tasted : OCT18
Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : $45
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2018 – 2030+
Ruggabellus FLUUS 2017
The cuvee name ‘Fluus’ is kind of onomatopoeic to me. Fluuuuusssss. Such flow. Such drinkability. A lush blend of 60% grenache, 24% mataro, 15% syrah, 1% cinsault of which a portion would have been Timaeus, but the Timaeus wine was ‘declassified’ as, to paraphrase winemaker Abe Gibson, the grenache block presented too much in the way of green flavours, which he links to a wet spell in the growing season. Whatever the case, no Timaeus from 2017. Fluus gets bolstered, however. And it’s a cracking drink for the bucks.
Texture is important here, so silky, soft too, feathery tannins just a breeze over the slosh of dark plummy fruit and then a kiss of almost tactile, peppery spice. Lovely stuff. It has that sense of heartiness without tipping into full on, supple in the mouth and dreamy with its kiss of sweet fruit and herbal stuff to close. Just so. A delightful balance between the richness and freshness. So. Easy. To. Drink. And fantastic.
Rated : 93 Points
Tasted : OCT18
Alcohol : 13.5%
Price : $27
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2018 – 2025
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