The Clandestine Schioppettino

Billy Button The Clandestine Schioppettino is made with a rare variety from Friuli-Venezia Guilia in Italy. The fruit is grown on the Greenacres Vineyard at Merriang South in the Alpine Valleys.

The wine is named after the clandestine effort to save Schioppettino from extinction in the 1970s. So rare that it was no longer an authorized variety in its Italian homeland, the vines had to be propagated in secret.

The fruit is gently destemmed directly into open tubs. After cold soaking, the juice is warmed naturally for wild yeast fermentation. The fermenting juice is gently plunged twice daily.

The wine is then pressed to Flexcubes (polymer 'barrels' that mimic the oxygen permeability of traditional oak) and seasoned oak. It is aged on lees for 10 months prior to bottling.

Brick red, Billy Button The Clandestine Schioppenttino is medium bodied and savoury with peppery red berry flavours and a backbone of acidity. Cellaring potential is three years.