Vinea Marson Nebbiolo 2015

What an alluring creature this is. Australian Nebbiolo is often a lot more fruit forward that its Italian counterparts; but this wine nails the ethereal interplay of florals, earth and spice. A blind tasting would have been more likely to send me to Barbaresco in Northern Italy than Heathcote – what a joy it would have been to find out my mistake.

Dried rose petals and cherries, rhubarb spiced with star anise. There’s homemade raspberry cordial flecked with zested orange. Sensuous plum pudding spices (without the sweetness) evolve into fresh leather and savoury aromas of the Australian countryside – ferrous earth, the mineral tang of sun-baked rocks, hibiscus and eucalypt. Precise acidity and lots of tannin remind you that Nebbiolo demands to be taken seriously but the tannin is so perfectly ripe, it is only there for support. Drink with perfectly roasted duck, pan juices and braised red cabbage.