"Gosh Jo Marsh makes good wine. This is another beauty. It’s peppery and generally spicy, fleshed with bright, red, energetic fruit, slipped with (assertive) emery-board tannin and pulsed with purple flowers and various other complexities through the finish. It’s a ripper drink; I recommend it highly." Rated : 93 Points, Tasted : Oct25, The Wine Front - Campbell Mattinson
2022 Billy Button ‘The Renegade’ Refosco
Silver medal winner and Awarded 93 points, Halliday Wine Companion - Black fruits and brambly notes, with violet, peppercorns, and spice.
Refosco is a relatively rare variety in Australia that originates from Friuli in North East Italy. It is naturally very high in the compound rotundone, which is responsible for the pepper character in red wines. It is a high acid, late ripening variety that tends to produce lighter bodied wines with lovely perfume.
Say 'ref-osk-oh'
Production Notes
Each batch was handpicked and gently destemmed direct to open tubs then cold soaked for 3 days. They were then allowed to warm and one parcel was inoculated with selected red wine yeast while the other was left for fermentation to occur using wild yeasts. The ferments were gently plunged twice daily and pressed out after sugar dryness. Parcels were filled to Flexcube and matured on lees for 8 months prior to blending, crossflow filtration and bottling in January 2022.
Tasting notes
Colour: Medium Red
Aroma: Black fruits and brambly notes, with violet, peppercorns, and spice.
Palate: Dark fruits and elegant tannins, with a spicy and savoury finish.
Technical details
Vineyards: Greenacres Vineyard, Merriang South
Region: Alpine Valleys
Alcohol: 14%
Volume made: 208 Dozen
Winemaker: Jo Marsh & Glenn James
Reviews
SILVER medal at the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show (AAVWS)
"Another strong vintage release for the northern Italian red grape that now calls North East Victoria home. Its black/pink pepper callsign remains as prominent as ever, surrounded by a bunch of equally lively herbs and spices. In between, bramble, black cherry, briar, dried flowers and undergrowth. Generous in flavour, fine-edged in presentation and astringent clean to finish." Awarded 93 points, Halliday Wine Companion, Jeni Port - Published 18 April 2023
"This address knows few boundaries when it comes to tackling Italian varieties, particularly those suited to higher altitudes. Sour cherry sassafras, alpine herb, white pepper and wild fennel. The tannins across the finish, lithe and nimble, yet just pliant enough. Unequivocally delicious and dangerously drinkable. Scored on authenticity alone." Awarded 93 points, Ned Goodwin, JamesSuckling.com - Published 20 January 2024
Vintage
2022
Varietal
Other
Appellation
Alpine Valleys