Smalltown Vineyards Clovella Mataro Grenache

Barossa Valley, Australia 

2019

14.5% ABV 

Flovilla Thatch was the dentist’s assistant in the Russ Meyer boob-flick “Beneath the Valley of the Super-Vixens". The name was mis-remembered after a heady night of blending but stuck and this vineyard has been known as Clovella since. The label bears no relation to Russ Meyer's steamy ouput but the sultry nature of the wine does. The design inspiration is all about the meeting of mouths, that energy before lips meet, whether meeting a glass of wine or each other. Two varieties blending into one.

Tasting notes

It starts with cassis, a nose full of promise. Clove and black pepper spice. The palate is dark and sultry with a dried fruit appeal. It finishes with a gentle lick of oak from the time the wine spends in oak.

Food match

Braises and stews: long slow cooked roasts of pork or lamb.

Production

Clovella is a field planting of roughly 60/40 Grenache and Mataro. It is a 40 year old vineyard from the Gomersal sub-district of the Barossa Valley that Rolf Binder has been cultivating himself for many years. The wine spends 22 months in older French oak. The purpose of this wine is to show Mataro and Grenache with some development rather than the super-juicy-young-bright Grenache of the moment.