The recent release of ‘The Italian’, a blend of Sangiovese and Merlot, completes the Otro Vino range.
Otro Vino, literally meaning ‘other wine’, is a side project of Stella Bella under winemaker Luke Joliffe. The full range now includes Chardonnay, Rose, a Tempranillo Shiraz Malbec blend and The Italian. Stella Bella is well known for their range of high quality, traditional Margaret River varietals and blends with a focus on cooler climate, southern Margaret River vineyards. Over the past 12 months the strength of these wines has seen unprecedented wine show success and third party endorsements.
The introduction of the new Otro Vino label allows the team at Stella Bella to do things a little differently. As with the Stella Bella range the key to all Otro Vino wines is outstanding fruit quality and leading viticulturalist Steve Martin has the vineyards humming. Otro Vino is about natural ferment / wild yeasts, minimal intervention and unfiltered / unfined wines. In a nutshell, the Otro Vino range consists of:
Otro Vino Chardonnay: 100% chardonnay wild fermented in minimum 5 year old oak. No fining or filtration. Elegant, textural and a bit wild while retaining regional Chardonnay character.
Otro Vino Rose [Sangiovese]: – 100% hand-picked Sangiovese, wild ferment, no additions. Wild strawberry, cherry and white flowers.
Otro Vino Tempranillo Shiraz Malbec: A field blend of 50% Tempranillo, 40% Shiraz and 10% Malbec. Wild fermented and unfined.
Otro Vino ‘The Italian’ [75% Sangiovese 25% Merlot]: A field blend of Sangiovese and Merlot. Wild fermented and matured in old French oak for 7 months. No adds, bottled unfined.
Stella Bella is one of Margaret River’s most successful producers. The Stella Bella range has grown over 20 years to include Skuttlebutt, Stella Bella, Suckfizzle, Luminosa and now Otro Vino. Luke Joliffe took over the senior winemaking role in 2014, following on from Janice McDonald and Stuart Pym.
The focus with the Stella Bell core range has not changed, it is simply to produce the best quality possible from the traditional Margaret River varieties. Otro Vino is a little more adventurous and allows Luke to test the boundaries with explorative hand crafted wines.
