Billy Button 2022 Saperavi – Alpine Valleys.

Billy Button Saperavi

If Billy Button’s Saperavi were a person, it would be the wealthy emo trust fund kid you knew at school. It is mysterious, brooding and frankly too dark for a 2 pm tasting without some food, but here we are. Winemaker Jo Marsh and wine making partner Glenn James have a knack for sniffing out alternative varietals and giving them main character energy and this Georgian émigré is no exception.

Grown in the cool, high elevation vineyards of Victoria’s Alpine Valleys, this Saperavi is low key intense, incredibly complex and as close to black as wine can be. From one of the oldest known wine making regions in the world, Saperavi means dyed or painted and is a reference to the grapes unusually dark flesh as well as highly coloured skin.

On the nose, it’s like someone dropped a bag of black cherries and dark chocolate into a leather satchel full of freshly ground coffee, and added a beaker of blackcurrants and some dried herbs, The palate is bold and unapologetic, with acidity that feels like both a slap and a hug. Tannins are fine grained but firm without being too dominant, all the while reminding you this is a very grown up tipple. This needs something that has cooked long, low and slow and is rich with flavour and umami.

This wine isn’t trying to be friendly. It’s trying to be remembered. Don’t want to pair it with food? Then drink it with a power outage, sandalwood candles and a Dostoyevsky novel. Or maybe a slow braised daub of beef and some Leonard Cohen or Portishead on the record player Up to you. It will age very well as most Saperavis do, so one bottle now and one in the cellar for a few years time.

RRP $38

https://www.billybuttonwines.com.au/

VIC |2022| Alpine Valley | 14.5%