2021 Bande Apart Cabernet Franc

WINEMAKER: Jess DiGiorgio
VARIETAL: Pinot Meunier
REGION: Adelaide Hills, SA
VITICULTURE: Organic

Grown by her family in Coonawarra, 100% whole berry, wild fermented, super gentle plunging with hands just to keep cap wet, 12 days on skins before being pressed out with her great Nonno's tiny basket press, into old French oak for 8 months, racked and bottled without fining or filtration.

Bright bursts of Davidson plum, blackberry and blue raspberry dominate the nose with a hint of both blackcurrant leaf and lime zest. Vibrant and energetic on the palate showing an underlying dark fruit core of cassis. Present but plush tannins support the fruit and provide line and length.

"What a great name for a wine label ‘Bande Apart’, which translates to Band of Outsiders. Being French it is impossible for me to forget the classic movie with the same title, made in the sixties by Jean Luc Godard which focuses on a small group of people who do something different from the rest of the ‘normal people’. This is exactly what Jess DiGiorgio does with her label. Sourcing fruit from different grape varieties and regions outside her own, creating small batch wines in her own style.

Although 2019 was her first release, Jess is not new to the wine industry. Growing up in the Limestone Coast amongst a family of growers and winemakers, her grandparents were first vine growers, before making wine in the late nineties. Always interested in wine, but keen to take a different path, Jess was a physiotherapist for a few years, travelling and working all over Australia. She came back home to help with one vintage and realised that this was her happy place and ultimately what she wanted to do in the future. It was travelling to France to do vintage with Andrew Nielson from Le Grappin, an Aussie winemaker living and residing in Burgundy, that really sealed the deal." - Paul Hervy