2023 Small Victories Vermentino

95 Points

Mouthfeel, persistence, freshness. Vermentino seems to embrace these words and create a unique, food-friendly style of wine. The fruit here is from the Ricca Terra Farms vineyard in the Riverland. Loving the botanical elements on the nose from this vintage, it grabs your attention from the get go with hints of elderflower, juniper, chamomile tea with some juicier nectarine and oyster shell notes. This transitions nicely to the palate which is medium bodied but bursting with white peach notes, honeydew melon, sea spray, white almond and juicy lime keeping the wine in balance. Moreish and vibrant in the mouth, I’m tucking into some salty elements here - charcuterie and cheese board with some fried white anchovies that help elevate the wine even more.

It's brightly fruited and delicately fragrant on the nose with green pear, apricot and jasmine aromas with a hint of pepper spice. The palate displays fine flow and linear mouthfeel, brilliantly supported by juicy acidity, finishing long and mouth-watering.

The Elderton winery in the Barossa doesn’t buy in any fruit; all of its wines are estate-grown (or are from family-owned vineyards). The Small Victories label, separate to but out of the same family, is Elderton’s non-estate label. This vermentino is from the Ricca Terra Farms vineyard in the Riverland. It’s highly perfumed; it rockets from the glass. It’s all passionfruit and brine, citrus and florals, and while it feels buoyant up front it then narrows and focusses. There’s texture here, dry and gently chalky/grippy, as the testiness of the fruit bursts through. It’s good. It drinks a treat. It’s relatively straightforward but everything it does, it does well.