2023 Aristotelis Ke Anthoula Blood Orange

WINEMAKER: Tony Zafirakos & Maddie Park-Neilson
REGION: Riverland, SA/South Pambula, NSW
VARIETY: Fiano, Vermentino, Nero d’Avola
VITICULTURE: Organic

Blood Orange started as an experiment using red and white grapes and co-fermenting them on skins for long periods of time to see what would happen. Years later, someone pointed out that this was in fact similar to the style of Spanish ‘Clarete’, a barrel fermented light red wine made whose production dates back to the Middle Ages.

For the 2023 edition we have used Fiano, Vermentino and Nero d’Avola. All fruit was hand sorted and destemmed into stainless steel tanks, then gently basket pressed in late winter to neutral barrels where it rested until bottling just before vintage 2023.

The result is a wine with a colour nothing short of spectacular, with wild aromas of spiced ripe red cherries and raspberries with orange peel and lime leaf. It is fresh and juicy with a lovely blood orange bitterness to the finish. Super unique and super delicious!

Aristotelis Ke Anthoula started as a family pastime. Having migrated from rural greece in the early 80s, Aristotelis and Anthoula longed for the feeling of home so they started making their own wine in a garage in the beachside suburbs of Sydney. From the beginning, all their wines were made entirely by hand (and foot) using only grapes, with no additives, no filtration or fining and no pumps or machinery.

All fruit is hand harvested and farmed with care. Our wines are still crafted from grapes alone with the aid of very little machinery. They are carefully made by hand and laboriously fussed over to extract maximum flavour and ensure they are high quality and stable. Natural, wild yeasts are used for fermentation, and there are no chemicals or preservatives added at any time. All of our wines are unfiltered and unfined and to this day we have never added (nor had a need for adding) any sulphur to our wines.