2019 Arfion Fever

10.07.2020 – The Adelaide Review – Dave Brookes

If you seek a wine that is savoury and dry – like sucking on a smooth river stone, minerally dry – is wonderfully textural and riffs on the gestalt principle, where the organised whole perceived on the palate is more than the sum of its parts, then I think this little beauty from the Yarra Valley could be right up your alley.

Arfion, Scottish Gaelic for ‘our wine’, is the brainchild of Kiwi-born winemaker Dave “Bro” Mackintosh. After time at Oyster Bay and Brokenwood wines, Mackintosh settled in the Yarra Valley working with Steve Flamsteed at Giant Steps before striking out on his own. His wines are gorgeous. Soulful, vivid, speaking clearly of the land from which they spring. The entire range is cracking and, if you get a chance, make sure you check out the small-batch Smokestack Lightning wines for skin-contacty greatness.  

The blend in this delicious wine changes with each growing season. In 2019, it weighs in at pinot gris 40%, gewurztraminer 24%, riesling 17%, chardonnay 7%, savagnin 6% and pinot noir 6%.

The colour is a mashup of orange and pinks, and it smells wicked. Grapefruit, blood orange, rosewater, turkish delight, frangipani, dried tangerine peel, glazed cherry and an array of souk-like spice. It’s like a collision between a fruit cart and a flower seller in a medina. Slinky and textural with a gentle tug of chalky tannin and a line of tubular, porcelain acidity, it is wild-eyed, captivating drinking. Wonderful gear.

08.06.2020 – Qwine reviews – Steve Leszczynski

Fever. This is an electric skin contact wine from the ever creative and open minded Dave Mackintosh. What a masterful wine and then some. I dig it big time! 

 Pour it in the glass and it's not what you expect. Wickedly delicious, it's blood orange in appearance and fills the nose with pretty scents.

 The key with wines like these is to ensure they aren't served too cold so they can express themselves. 

A blend of Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Chardonnay, Savagnin and Pinot Noir (40/24/17/7/6/6), all the fruit was picked dependant on site and co-fermented over a long 40 day ferment in open fermenters. The Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer skins were included. 100% wild fermented and going through malo, it then saw time in oak French oak for nine months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulphites added. 

 Scents of mandarin peel, red flowers, blood orange and red apple skin. It digs deep with layers of interest ready to unfurl. Fennel, rosewater from the Gewurtz, and dried thyme race for your attention early. But those florals! I keep coming back to the pretty aromas. Juicy red cherries and then, some ruby grapefruit and delicate textural feels build wonderful momentum through the mouth leaving you searching for more. Brilliant!

 94 Points