The Oddball
Saperavi 2022
Saperavi is the world’s oldest grape variety. It originates in Georgia 8000 years ago
Hugh Hamilton was one of the first people in the country to plant Saperavi and has been fascinated by it for over two decades. The word Saperavi translates to ‘ink’ or ‘dye’ due to intense skin colour and red flesh. We call this Shiraz grown on a diet of lightning.
“The text book would no doubt say “don’t plant it”. However, I’m listening to the grapes. 22 vintages of Saperavi tells me year after year that this grape variety loves the terroir of McLaren Vale” – Hugh Hamilton
Vegan friendly
2021 Vintage - 🏆 95 points - Halliday Wine Companion
'The Oddball is worth every bit of the $70 odd you’ll pay to savour the experience. - Travis Schultz
As published in Courier Mail
Wow, what colour! Impenetrable, profound purple. The nose is immediately inviting with blueberry, plum, cherry liqueur and almond patisserie aromas.
It's a big, butch wine in the mouth, deeply flavoured, hugely concentrated with dark fruit, warm with alcohol and grippy in tannin. A very macho red that should develop well over many years.
2021 Vintage - 🏆 95 points - The Real Review
🏆 GOLD - Saperavi International Wine Show in Georgia - 2020 vintage
Winemaker's Notes
Saperavi is a very odd variety. The grapes are so darkly coloured the Georgian’s named it with their word for ‘dye’. The skins are black and unusually the pulp of the berry also carries colour. The wines that it makes are similarly dark, often very depth driven and textural, and our Oddball always rewards cellaring. The wines are often so intense that we have come to describe this variety as Shiraz raised entirely on a diet of lightning.
Bouquet & Palate
A violet lined coal mine packed with blocks of palm sugar and sandalwood. Vanilla lurks layers deep in the dark. Black leather wrapped red fruit. Pomegranate compote. Sweet tobacco pouch. Iron edged cherry. Tannin rustic, yet somehow slick, still demands time to lie in the cellar and achieve a proper polish.
Food Match
Espresso rubbed dry-age T-bone with roast beetroot, baby spinach, and goats cheese - or Miso-Dijon glazed tempeh with smashed beets and caramelised onion.
Technical Details
- Type: Red
- Varietal: Other
- Region: South Australia
- Appellation: McLaren Vale
- Vintage: 2021
- Bottling Date: 05/12/2022
- Harvest Date: 17/03/2022
- Cellaring Recommendation: 5-20 years - This is a wine that despotically demands cellaring; textural, brawny, and youthful there are many miles to travel yet. Let it settle in the cellar and slowly unfold. Dense, complex, and multi layered. The best pleasures are rarely simple.
- Alcohol: 14.9
- pH: 3.55
- TA: 6
- RS: <2.0g/l
- Vegan Friendly: Yes