Country : Australia
Region : Barossa Valley & South Australia
Style : White Wine
Grape : Riesling
Volume : 750 ml
Alcohol : 12.0%
About the Vineyard
Smalltown Vineyards express many of the Barossa’s prized districts form Gomersal, Kalimna as well as the Eden Valley and beyond. They work with exceptional vineyards that simply expressed using minimal intervention, basket press where relevant, and natural ferments in open top fermenters, striving to best capture all of the Barossa’s magical flavors.
About the Wine
The rationale behind this label is a quirky one! The product manager found out that due to the tiny production of a particular wine, half the vineyard fruit was to be discarded....so he stepped in to say the team would be interested to play with this other half given the quality of the wine over previous years. This led to thinking about up-cycling the near-discarded, how one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, etc, and whilst humming over a potential moniker for the wine, God’s honest truth, a rag & bone van parked up outside his house calling for any old iron etc. Albeit a man in a white van, rather than horse & cart, the name stuck. The label reflects a collection of discarded items which together make up an eclectic assortment greater than the sum of its parts.
Hence, from an old, near discarded Eden Valley vineyard, which is located at the cooler, south-facing slopes of the region, this is a combination of young and old vine Riesling, that goes thru 100% steel tank natural fermentation, maintaining the optimum freshness of the fruits. The style is tight, bony & focused, with a small amount of less contact to provide a final blend of extra texture, interest and intrigue.
Eden Valley Riesling is prized for its vibrancy, purity and longevity and has produced many of Australia’s greatest Rieslings. The fruit for Rag & Bone is sourced from a single vineyard, high up on the Eastern side of Eden Valley. Warm days and cool nights ensure that the grapes develop ripe, intense fruit flavors whilst retaining appealing zing and acidity. The fruit was delivered to the winery immediately after harvesting in the cool hours of the morning, then processed very gently through our tank press. The juice was cold settled and 3 days later the clear juice was transferred into fermentation tanks.
Details from Kate Burgess (Boutinot International)
Tom White has been making wine since 2002, making wine for his family’s winery in the Adelaide Hills, where he made Shiraz, Cabernet, Merlot, Semillon and Chardonnay. Tom then established his own contract winemaking business in 2008 and made wine all over South Australia in the Clare Valley, McLaren Vale, Riverland and, of course, the Barossa Valley where Tom finally put down some roots. In 2012 Tom purchased a vineyard in Marananga, a small town nestled in the heart of the Barossa between Seppeltsfield, Greenock and Stonewell making the wine at Rolf Binder the Winery before Tom’s own winery The Curator Wine Company began operating in 2020. Tom’s focus on special sites, basket presses, natural ferments, minimal intervention, indeed as little work as possible dovetails neatly with Smalltown’s existing philosophy of lazy, feet-up winemaking and Rolf ’s established practices.
Happily in January 2022 Rolf Binder the Human donned his winemaker’s stubbies once more and is now working with Tom at The Curator Wine Co on our very own Smalltown Vineyards! Yay! Rolf ’s sister Christa is still hugely involved in the Riesling and Chardonnay whilst Rolf tinkers with the reds whilst Tom runs the show. We will continue to evolve the Smalltown Vineyards range and labels to reflect the specific strengths and passions of this new partnership. There are some great old vineyards new to us this year to exploit as well as the ongoing wealth of experience, joy and handsomeness that Rolf and Christa bring to Tom’s contemporary winery.
Tasting Note
A floral nose of jasmine, lime zest, waxed lemons over crushed marble. The palate is bright, taut and citrussy, the note of citrus oils adding to the palate weight. Its crisp but has plenty of body and a long, nervy finish.
Food Pairing
Well suited to seafood dishes, spicy cuisine and anytime in the company of those who enjoy a quality riesling! Try chilli prawns, green thai curry, fish and chicken laksa (with chilli, coconut, ginger and lime).
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