Vinaceous Wines are the brainchild of Nick Stacy and Mike Kerrigan. The wines are made, blended and bottled at West Cape Howe Wines, Mount Barker. Nick and Mike are also the team behind the slightly higher echelon Right Reverend V wines. Sourcing fruit from premium regions in Western Australia and South Australia in true negociant style. The labels are fun, quirky and invoke the physical and personality representation of the wine inside the bottle and based on real people apparently! The website is certainly one the more fun examples in the Australian wine scene.

Please note: the bottle shots show an older vintage, the notes represent the current.

‘Divine Light,’ Sauvignon Blanc, Margaret River, 2014

Gooseberry and grass. Talc and ash. Soft tropical green melon and quintessential crispness. Subtle lemon citrus provides a refreshing finish. Certainly shows how Margaret River provides an excellent breeding ground for quality SB.

RRP: $22

Alc: 12.5%

 

‘Sirena,’ Pinot Grigio, Adelaide Hills, 2014

Full nose with ripe pear, cheese and nectarine. Palate of crisp bittersweet citrus, tart pear and light Adelaide Hills apple notes. Without complication but just the right amount of phenolic grip.

RRP: $22

Alc: 12.5%

 

‘Impavido,’ Vermentino, Mount Barker, 2014

Spiced baked apple, peach stone fruit mouth-filling flavour with a lovely salty finish. Clean citrus and oodles of structure. Acid is high and the briny texture will just love food. Arguably the best white in the range.

RRP: $22

Alc: 12.5%

 

‘Shakre,’ Chardonnay, Margaret River, 2014

Just creamy nose with soft white bread, white peach, the right amount of nutty oak and a lick of salt spray. Excellent structure. Interchanging flavours dance between lemon pith citrus and crisp white stone fruit. The right amount of nutty, spiced oak for complexity. There’s a sandy, fresh, just-off-the-beach-and-straight-to-lunch feel to this wine.

RRP: $22

Alc: 13%

 

‘Salome,’ Tempranillo Rosé, Western Australia, 2014

Candied raspberry and dried cranberry nose, yet cool, refreshing and inviting. Rosewater over easy raspberry. Good grip and finishes pretty with more rosewater/Turkish Delight. On the slightly fruit sweet side, match it with food that holds a little spice such as grilled chorizo.

RRP: $22

Alc: 13%

 

‘Red Right Hand,’ Shiraz/Grenache/Tempranillo, Margaret River, 2013

Can’t help but have the Nick Cave tune echo through your head when you read the name (which of course is a little confusing due to it recently being used for the Barossa ‘Be Consumed’ advertising campaign. But whatever, it’s a bloody great song.)

56% Shiraz, 29% Grenache and 15% Tempranillo. Earthy, spiced, heady with ripe red plums and raspberry pastille, lifted with fresh herbs. Palate is complex, full Shiraz and Grenache red fruit ripeness balanced by the Tempranillo tannin.

RRP: $25

Alc: 14.5%

 

‘Snake Charmer,’ Shiraz, McLaren Vale, 2013

Lovely smells of blood plums, chocolate, cinnamon spice and balsa wood. McLaren Vale red fruit to the fore with supporting chocolate, toasted brown spice wrapped up in cherry slice invoking oak. Enough tannin to make it interesting. Too easy to drink…how can you not like this wine?

RRP: $25

Alc: 14.5%

 

‘The Raconteur,’ Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River, 2013

One born every minute, eh? Pencils and cassis. Smells ‘blocky’ and solid. Like sniffing a metal bar. Sour pips and dark fruits heading to sweet “essence” like character. Tannins are soft and plentiful. Feels a touch dull.

RRP: $25

Alc: 14.5%

 

‘Voodoo  Moon,’ Malbec, Margaret River, 2013

Almost opaque in the glass with a edge of crimson. Syrupy and softly herby. Plum skins and roasted tomato richness. Black tea and “Mint Slice” cool choc. Deep dark black fruits and touches of dark (85% cocoa) chocolate and trickle of plummy fruit washed away with floods of drying tannin and sliced with sharp acid.

RRP: $25

Alc: 14.5%

All wines samples courtesy of Vinaceous Wines.