We regularly reach for Italian varieties from our cellar, which led us to plant Aglianico in the Barossa Valley 14 years ago. Now as the roots of this vineyard settle into the famed soils of the Northern Barossa Valley, the wine we produce from it becomes more akin to those from our Northern Hemisphere peers.
We release to you our latest Aglianico wines, the 2022 Mates and 2022 Angelo.
The Wines
2022 Izway Mates Aglianico
Each vintage of this wine is dedicated to the people who have inspired, influenced and entertained us – our mates.
In 1998 I played a season of Australian Rules Football in a small country town called Gladstone, about 2 hours north of Adelaide. I was paid to play, and the money was enough to get me through a week at Uni without having to bake flour and sugar bread to survive! A local family took me under their wing, and we shared some great memories and became long-term friends. Their son, Corey, had cystic fibrosis, and although he was limited physically, he had an unrivalled passion for life and charged into everything he was allowed to do. Courage can be defined in many ways, but within Corey’s tiny frame was courage that I still admire to this day. As Corey grew, our paths crossed in Adelaide while he was receiving treatment, always with positivity and without resentment. When he was born the average life expectancy for CF was 18 years. Corey lived to be 33. This wine is dedicated to him and the smiles he gave me.
Another cracking release of this wine showcasing the vibrant natural acidity, fruit driven enthusiasm and resolute fine tannin that has been a hallmark of the Mates since we converted it to 100% Aglianico in 2018. We had enough to fill our Fudre (2.4kL) in 2022, and I always think this wine has a little more personality when we are able to use this vat.
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2022 Izway Angelo Aglianico
While this wine is developing an ever-growing list of loyal followers, our penchant for not engaging with the wine media is keeping the Angelo off the radar for most wine drinkers. It is a wine that is loved by sommeliers and big noters, and I am constantly traversing the media silence with the need to develop a stronger following for Aglianico in general. The last two releases (2021 & 2022) have been of exceptional quality, and I would implore anyone who is not familiar with Angelo to take a chance on something that is extraordinarily different to anything else you will try from the Barossa Valley. The grape continues to exceed our expectations, and the late ripening at lower alcohol and high natural acid has given us a strong point of difference from the other wines we make.
The 2022 Angelo was harvested on the 21st of April in cool conditions, and the resulting wine is crisp and vibrant, elegant, and focused, with brilliant depth, texture, and juiciness.
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I love drinking all the wines we have released this spring from the 2022 harvest and hope you can find some space for these on your wine list at home. They all have distinctive personalities but a common seam of freshness and vitality makes them some of the finest that we have released to date.
Read about our other spring wines releases
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Craig Isbel
Winemaker