New to the Portfolio, Unico Zelo wines have been garnering a lot of attention in the UK press recently. For those in-the-know, dynamic Australian winemaking couple Brendan and Laura Carter, have been conducting experiments with Italian grape varieties over the last several years but interest has been rapidly rising in the UK.

At the recent Australia Day Tastings, Decanter selected both the Unico Zelo Fiano and Nero D’Avola as part of their 15 favourite wines of the day:

93 Points – Unico Zelo, Jade & Jasper Fiano 2017:  Brendan and Laura Carter’s cellar door is at their Gumeracha distillery in the Adelaide Hills, but the fruit for this superb Fiano comes from ancient, sandy limestone soils on the lauded Ricca Terra Farm in the Riverland, a specialist in alternative varieties. With 24 hours’ skin contact it’s beautifully creamy, nutty and full of tropical and stone fruit characters on a waxy, textural palate that shows great freshness and length. First class. Drink 2018-2020

92 Points – Unico Zelo, The River 2017, Riverland:  Nero d’Avola hails from hot, arid Sicily, and finds the same climes in South Australia’s Riverland – not usually championed as a region for high-quality wines. But this is a cracker, with very approachable, sappy fruit, seeing five days on its skins and no oak to maximise its savoury berry vibrancy. Succulent, lifted and with fresh acidity, this is a real quaffer. Nice packaging too. Drink 2018-2020

Meanwhile, Chris Losh of Imbibe had this to say of the Unico Zelo Esoterico Orange 2017, one of his three top picks at the Berkmann Portfolio Tastings: “Many orange wines take themselves a bit too seriously – like students quoting bad poetry at you. This wine doesn’t. It’s got plenty of aromatic flavour (as you’d expect from something that’s 40% Muscat d’Aleessandria) but with 22% Polish River Riesling in there as well to provide backbone it’s got a winning combination of fun and funk. With orange skin zest underpinning a definite pine top-note and a gentle rumble of tannin, it would be great with all things herby – our pick would be gravadlax or chicken and rosemary. Their Truffle Hound Barbera/Nebbiolo (also from the Clare Valley) is well worth a look, too.”