2022 quasimodo blend
35% Nero d’Avola / 33% Shiraz / 32% Durif
To understand Quasimodo, you must venture beyond the surface and explore the inner soul. As individuals, the varietal wines can struggle for love but when blended together they sing, shine and bring harmony in a way that is only possible together. After all, Mick Jagger’s She’s the Boss is good, but it’s no Exile on Main Street.
Quasimodo is a unique Australian blend of Nero d’Avola, Shiraz and Durif sourced from the regions of Eldorado, Beechworth, Glenrowan and Rutherglen. It’s an amalgam of flavour and colour culminating in a complex rewarding wine.
The composition of this blend changes vintage to vintage, with the pursuit being a consistent affable wine of layered complexity that resonates as ‘Quasimodo’ each year. The 2022 sits in its usual medium-bodied spectrum, with plenty of bright fruit, a lifted floral bouquet and fine chalky tannins.
The Nero d’Avola was sourced from two vineyards; our home site at Eldorado, which is planted on rare decomposed red granite soils, along with fruit from a certified organic vineyard in Glenrowan. Both picks of fruit were destemmed and gently hand plunged daily before being basket pressed into seasoned French oak puncheons and left to mature on lees for 8 months.
The Shiraz similarly came from two sites; the Mt Pilot Estate Vineyard in Eldorado and the Battely Vineyard in Beechworth which is leased and managed by us.
Located in an isolated spot up a dirt track perched in the hills of Eldorado (with the same granite formation as the Beechworth Plateau), Mt Pilot Estate Vineyard is painfully low yielding but delivers such incredible concentration and flavour that we can’t be kept away. The grapes were gently destemmed and then split into two ferments with one containing approximately 20% whole bunches for a lifted perfume. We really can’t overstate the quality of the fruit grown by Lachie and Penny Campbell at Mt Pilot Estate. Much like our own vineyards in Eldorado, it falls just outside the Beechworth GI and so is often overlooked. We believe, however, that this fruit could produce a stand-alone Shiraz that would give Beechworth’s best a run for their money. The only reason we haven’t pursued this dream wine ourselves is due to the tiny quantities of fruit available and our love of Quasimodo.
The Beechworth Battely Vineyard component was a selection of barrels from a number of different ferments carefully selected to give finesse to the mid palate of this blend.
In 2022 the Durif component was sourced from three vineyards; the Battely Vineyard in Beechworth, a mature and proven vineyard in Rutherglen along with the Mt Pilot Estate Vineyard in Eldorado. The Beechworth fruit is elegant and restrained, while the Rutherglen component brings power and concentration. The Mt Pilot Estate fruit sits somewhere in the middle. An incredible team in tandem.
We are very conscious not to over extract the fruit when crafting Quasimodo, as it is designed to be a wine of youthful pleasure, with or without food. As with all of our reds, it was hand plunged daily and gently basket pressed straight to oak.
Unfined, filtered gently, vegan friendly, and hand bottled onsite December 2023.
Get up to a 15% discount and free freight when you join the INNER SANC|TUM WINE CLUB. Find out more of the benefits and how to join through the link at the top of the page.