Mike Bennie reviews Ruggabellus latest releases on www.winefront.com.au
posted on 25 September 2017
Ruggabellus SALLIO 2015
The first year Sallio spent in Abe Gibson’s large, old oak vats. It saw three days on skins, basket pressed, left for almost two years to mature in the vats. It’s muscat dominant in 2015 (40%) with 31% semillon and 29% riesling. Most of the wine is co-fermented. Abe Gibson has such a calm vision for his world, despite the complexity of winemaking. A gentle, thoughtful soul, but with a firm self belief, or so it seems. This is a vision splendid, ongoing.
Bright golden colour. Spiced orange, dried herbs, dried mixed peel and apply scents. Very attractive pot pourri perfume. The palate is rich-ish but set alight with a web of fine, talc-like tannin and bristling, tangy acidity. The textural components are seamlessly woven into the main body of juicy fruit, with that citrus-apple-spice character utterly delicious, as if a fine tonic or similar. Wonderful drinking here. Complexity through the roof, as is drinkability.
Rated : 94 Points
Tasted : SEP17
Alcohol : 12.8%
Price : $27
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2017 – 2030
Ruggabellus QUOMODO 2015
Riesling dominant here with an 83% holding. There’s semillon (9%) and muscat (8%) also in the blend. It sees around three weeks macerating on skins. Built from five different batches of ferments. This suite of ‘whites’ from Ruggabellus are distinguished, and the best of orange winemaking in Australia (and would hold fort alongside any wines of international high standard of the same style). Indeed these wines are excellent full stop. Outstanding wines and winemaking nous, from select vineyard sites. Quomodo – which translates roughly to ‘in what way?’, and the question is being asked about Eden Valley riesling…
Grilled citrus characters, spiced orange, amaro, anise, alpine herbs. Tangy orange-y characters to taste, slight saline tang, lemony acidity, fine chalky tannin profile. Lively number here, dances across the palate, zigs and zags with its savoury-spicy fruit and mineral-charged texture. Feels almost curiously fine boned. Refreshing to boot. Reminscent of the mighty, livelier versions of orange wine from Princic, as opposed to Radikon’s concentrated orange wine styles. Unreal.
Rated : 95 Points
Tasted : SEP17
Alcohol : 11.6%
Price : $45
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2017 – 2030+
Ruggabellus SOLUMODO 2015
So this is 71% semillon of which this portion was on skins for almost a year. The semillon was left in a sealed tank for that year, untouched, and pressed just before the new season semillon was picked. Riesling (21%) and muscat (8%) was blended in after the year. Judicious, thoughtful winemaking underpins this suite of orange wines from Ruggabellus. “I am lucky to get a lot of wine from Dan Clark [Addley Clark] to inspire me and help me along my way”, says winemaker Abe Gibson. “The skins of semillon are thinner than many white varieties which could be used to produce this style, and the grapes bigger, so the skin impact is much less”, explains Abe Gibson, “and green skins are avoided where possible”. Some 690 bottles here. Solumodo – the lonely way, loosely applied here to suggest how semillon works in the Eden Valley. There’s a resonance there. Abe Gibson almost having a hermetic existence in his winemaking, though his connection to community runs deep.
Golden-orange in hue. Gorgeous looking thing. Pretty perfume of dried flowers, exotic Indian spice, toffee apple, almond and marzipan whiffs, orange juice and dried peel. Incredible perfume. The palate is alive with complexity of pumice-like texture, fine, juicy fruit character, savoury spiciness and zesty acidity. It’s a compelling wine, luring a drinker in, satisfying for complexity and incredible refreshment factor. A triumph. Take a look at this, Friuli, Georgia, Brda et al!
Rated : 96 Points
Tasted : SEP17
Alcohol : 13.3%
Price : $45
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2017 – 2030+
Ruggabellus FLUUS 2016
Fluus, the flow. Get with it. Here’s a regular winner from the clever, clever hands of Abe Gibson and his vineyard sources. Produced in a large, old oak vat this year (well, matured in it). Syrah dominant for the first time (38%), with cinsault (21%), grenache (21%) and mataro (20%). Bistro-friendly fare of the highest order; or just for sloshing around with abandon at home.
Hearty perfume of plum, lavender, malt, faint game meat and faint espresso, with a savoury, brambly undertone. Sounds over the top in description, but you keep seeking and you shall find. Medium weight in palate, or at least medium in ripeness of flavour, touches of green herb/spice, sheets of firmly succulent yet fine tannin. Juicy, bright finish. Stellar drinking, overdelivering for price with structure and complexity, though some might find it a darker version of Fluus, though the wine has lost none of the drinkability.
Rated : 93 Points
Tasted : SEP17
Alcohol : 13.4%
Price : $27
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2017 – 2025
Ruggabellus TIMEAUS 2016
The grapes came on a little earlier than expected, with Timaeus threatened by some higher alcohol potential in vineyards (and some parcels have been dropped accordingly, due to additional ripeness/flavour/alcohol). It is 76% grenache, 12% syrah, 7% mataro, 5% cinsault. Detailed winemaking to get to that very precise blend. I would love to see the process live.
Plush, velvety red of easy seduction, round tannins, good extension of sweet-spicy fruit flavours. Scents of dark plum, black olive, wild mint, warm pavement. The palate set to darker fruit but riding on a flow of cool, fresh acidity that lifts the wine and raises drinkability. Levity in red wine. Come hither stuff.
Rated : 93 Points
Tasted : SEP17
Alcohol : 13.6%
Price : $45
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2017 – 2026
Ruggabellus EFFERUS 2016
This is 71% mataro, 17% syrah, 10% grenache, 2% cinsault. “I always want this to be earthy as its sort of primary feel. Not want, but I think this is what mataro’s best attributes are. Meat and the earth. That for me is the aim. I want it to be untamed, hence Efferus, wild, so the wine shows robustness and a rustic feel, but that’s not quite right either. It’s like the tertiary colours of gum leafs, with the red hue through them” explains winemaker Abe Gibson. Select vineyards contribute, though the focus is rounding to the home block on the family property.
There’s an unkempt feel to the wine in the best possible sense. A Wine Of Character. Scents of red and black berry, turned earth, pepper, gum leaf, undergrowth. The palate starts with chewy tannin, ropes of them, set amongst dark fruit, savouriness, meaty characters and sweet-just sour fruit character. Unreal, rumbling wine of depth and personality.
Rated : 95 Points
Tasted : SEP17
Alcohol : 13.8%
Price : $45
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2017 – 2027
Ruggabellus ARCHAEUS 2016
The first single vineyard wine ever from Ruggabellus. From the home vineyard, right out the front and down the hill of the Gibson family house and winery. A single barrel was made. The vineyard work is yielding results! Set on pink quartz at 500 metres above sea level. Flaxman’s Valley magic. An earthy, pure red results. My mind went straight to great wines of Allemand or Souhaut from Rhone. Then again, it very much marches to its own beat. This is all syrah, for the first time.
Perfumed, medium weight red of spice, faint savouriness, gently ripe fruit characters, herbal element. Pitch perfect medium weight, succulent, fine and fresh, stretches luxuriously into the distance, sheathed in ultra fine tannin and dusty spice plus cherry pip, rose water and faint soy character. So lovely. Such an elegant wine but with incredible inward concentration. Freshness abounds. Almost a pinosity. Incredible wine.
Rated : 96 Points
Tasted : SEP17
Alcohol : 14.3%
Price : $58
Closure : Screwcap
Drink : 2017 – 2028