Joseph Sparkling Red

Notes sourced from Primo Estate.

Every two years Primo Estate release the JOSEPH Sparkling Red. Joseph & Dina Grilli have some firm criteria when it comes to making this most Australian of styles. It has to be big and show some age, oak just discernible, with a drier than average finish. A serious wine.
They set about achieving this by using their own Primo Estate Adelaide Shiraz as the predominant base wine (going back to 1989) and introducing a small amount of the JOSEPH ‘Moda Amarone’ Cabernet Merlot (a hogshead from every vintage since 1991 goes in).Also about 10% of the blend consists of a random mixture of early sixties to early seventies Australian red wine they were able to buy at auction. This imparts a real ‘antique’ slant to the wine.
After fermentation in the bottle and resting on lees for a year, it was liqueured with a mixture of old Australian ports (mainly from the 1971 vintage).
This 2001 – disgorged version is comfortably their best yet. One can see the lineage of all of the past releases – the aged characters, the fruit, the oak – in a seamless, creamy experience. 13.5% alcohol volume.