Moondarra Old School Nebbiolo 2018

Like our Pinot Noirs, our Nebbiolo is macerated on skins before fermentation. We retain about a third as whole bunches. We ‘dance’ in the wine three or four times a day through ferment to extract colour and flavour and to mix the warmer, actively fermenting must, with the cooler, inactive, must. This is extremely important given its usually late-May by the time we’ve picked Nebbiolo, macerated the must, and started fermentation. We usually inoculate the Nebbiolo with a bucket of Pinot from my favourite ferment. When the wine is close to dry it’s locked up, retaining some CO2 from fermentation to protect it, with skins and stems for a year, before being drained to old barriques for a few more months before bottling. Minimal sulphur is added just before bottling without filtration.

Nebbiolo’s acid and tannin are perfect with the ‘melt in your mouth’ sweetness of Wagyu, and if it’s Wagyu steak try sprinkling a little powdered, dried porcini or shiitake like you’d use salt, but to add umami.