Sam Vinciullo Cowaramup Red/White 2019

Cowaramup Red/White is a 55% Shiraz and 45% Sauvignon Blanc co-fermentation from Sam Vinciullo's 6.5-hectare farm in Cowaramup, a small town about 15 minutes north of the Margaret River township in Western Australia. The vines are own-rooted, dry-farmed, and range in age from roughly 21 to 35 years old. Soils are predominantly sandy with varying amounts of gravel and ironstone, with patches of sandy loam in lower parts of the Sauvignon Blanc blocks.

Each variety is fermented separately in open-topped plastic fermenters, then pressed off the skins halfway through fermentation. The two juices are blended together to finish fermenting as one. No pumps are used at any stage — all movement is by gravity or bucket. After pressing with a basket press, the wine is bottled directly from the lees with no racking, fining, filtration, oak aging, or added sulfites of any kind.

The result leans toward chillable red territory: bright raspberry fruit and faint herb character from the Sauvignon Blanc, with a thread of pepper and minerality that carries through to the finish. It drinks like a light-to-medium red but has more texture and energy than the category usually delivers.