Mike Bennie reviews Ruggabellus latest releases on www.winefont.com.au
posted on 26 June 2014
Ruggabellus Efferus 2013
So. Mataro. Fruit is sourced from a Krondorf site, predominately, from a vineyard where cuttings came from Abel Gibson’s father’s vineyard. The foothills vineyard where cool air whips through at night; Gibson often mentions this site. Twelve year old bush vines. A bit of fruit comes from Vine Vale off Wayne Ahrens old vine mataro block. ‘I love bitterness, Campari, amaro; I felt the 2012 was very strong in this character, and decided to leave the fruit till the next fruit day cycle to avert the baseline of this, to get the wine slinkier and fuller… whole bunch is done by eye to a measure in the ferment’, explains Gibson.
Even in ‘brevity’ of tasting with winemaker, Efferus opens up in the glass in volume. Luscious perfume, full of wild fruit and savouriness, earthy depth, undergrowth and guttural dark stone and berry fruit characters. Juicy in texture, light to medium bodied but without lack of flavour, showing with garrigue-tinged tannins tightening the wash of fruit in the wine, and finishing it with a stony pucker. A mouthwatering sweetness lingers, fresh acidity lifts the wine. Though delicate, there’s presence and persistence here. This is the best Efferus so far.
Rated : 94 Points
Tasted : JUN14
Alcohol : 14.2%
Price : $44
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2014 – 2029
Ruggabellus Archaeus 2013
‘It’s all about the perfume’, says winemaker Abel Gibson, ‘my instinctual response. Smell is mesmerising, or offending, depends where you are at. The most primal instinct. I look for provenance, freshness and vitality, and complexity, or for lack of better word, intrigue, there you go, that’s a better word. Gets the synapses firing, gets you curious, I think humans are curious, perfume does this in wine, gives intrigue’.
Always a parcel of shiraz from Eden Valley, Keyneton, from Gibson’s father’s vineyard. ‘Shiraz is always the hardest to capture motion through the mouth’, posits Gibson, ‘it’s not confronting for the most part, I am trying to capture shape with shiraz, which comes from a picking zone, not waiting until it is safe, voluptuous, but not wanting it short and sharp with too much stems either. I am playing in a middle zone’.
Shows a ripe punch of red currant, red berry, red flesh plum fruit perfume with red rose petal floral notes. A lick of dried herbs, tar and black olives too. Complex perfume. Inviting. Fleshiness in texture, briary and red-fruited, some more tar and floral character, chewy and puckering with talc-stone tannins. Firm finish, but upfront some more generosity. Feels pretty untamed as yet, but still compelling to drink. Such unchartered waters.
Rated : 93+ Points
Tasted : JUN14
Alcohol : 14%
Price : $44
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2014 – 2029
Ruggabellus Timaeus 2013
This is 49% whole bunch now, going up, with a parcel introduced from Wayne Ahrens of Smallfry Vineyard, looking to punch up the perfume. Winemaker Abel Gibson now uses 16 tonnes to get his red wine mix right, with around 29 parcels sitting on the bench for over a month to work out what fits where. The art of blending, again, the metier of Gibson in 2013. Timaeus is always about grenache, ‘for me the strength of Barossa grenache, which was planted for Ruby Port originally, really, are the clones go bigger berry and bunch, and there’s an ethereal point just after the hard green zone and before the spicy sweet zone that I really like’, he explains, ‘the bone is always skinny with grenache, you can build structure and not lose shape’. It’s 2352 bottles in 2013, unlike the label image set aside these notes.
Herbal and bergamot whiffs through the light but dark fruit perfume. Abel uses the word ‘ethereal’ which plants an ear worm, so to speak, but the bouquet here is flighty and delicate. Tight and stern in texture, very coiled, trimmed with dusty tannins. Fruit is crisp, mouthful of just ripe red and black berries with spice and touch of earthiness. Good length here and the wine feels like it needs time to unfurl, in glass or cellar. Impressive architecture and the al dente fruit feel is super. Like this.
Rated : 94+ Points
Tasted : JUN14
Alcohol : 13.4%
Price : $44
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2014 – 2029
Ruggabellus Fluus 2013
This is the first year this wine is grenache-dominant, ‘mataro is getting harder and harder to come by, especially at a more affordable price for Fluus. It’s funny because grenache is flying under the radar, just…but I think it’s an easy transition for Barossa winemakers to go from shiraz to mataro, even if mataro can be rogue and wild… I think there are some winemakers who are aware and mataro is getting press, but there’s been a few who have been long term with mataro’, says winemaker Abel Gibson.
‘They say 2013 was driest, earliest, quickest vintage in living memory. I was tasting flavour and getting scary high numbers on the refrac, thinking shit, I might have missed the boat on some lighter stuff, so quickly started harvesting, but fruit came in way better than expected when it hit the winery’, explains Gibson of 2013, ‘there’s more wholebunch in 2013, the dryness and sun gave lovely development of flavour’.
This is 54% grenache, 31% mataro, 10% cinsault, 8% syrah. There are parcels selected specifically for Fluus that go into tank for ten months or so, though other bits and pieces help make the blend more interesting, brought in from small puncheons, left over from the ‘premium’ range.
Wow. Smells fantastic. Neck-snapping spice, lighter red fruits, pretty floral notes. It’s wicked to sniff. Big crunch to texture yet silkiness to tannins, freshening acidity. Length isn’t huge, but the light-to-medium bodied feel with brightness of fruit and gentle sour-sweetness here is undeniably delicious. All about fragrance here, bouquet and mouth-perfume. So very good to drink. Very.
Rated : 92 Points
Tasted : JUN14
Alcohol : 13.6%
Price : $27
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2014 – 2024