Delinquente 'Amaya' Negroamaro Pet Nat 2023 (750 ml)

Dark pink in the glass with heady bubbles, the nose leads you into that dark fruit zone – blackberry, boysenberry, with a touch of savoury herb – aniseed, fennel seed. On the mouth though, it’s all broad, mouth puckering acidity, fresh and piercing. Black cherry fruitiness really playing second fiddle to the bright crunch, the slightly bitter saltiness of marjoram/tarragon herb characters providing more length and interest. Just really yum and fun, but with layers of flavour that invite further thought.

Fermented in stainless steel with wild vineyard yeast, the wine was bottled under crown seal to finish ferment, resulting in the Petillant Naturel, lightly sparkling style. The Negroamaro for this wine was sourced from the Sherwood Estate in Loxton North, owned by the Proud family – third generation grape growers who have introduced Southern Italian varieties into their vineyards with great success.

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Delinquente makes small batch, minimal intervention wines from Southern Italian grape varieties grown in the Riverland, South Australia.

We were born and raised in the Riverland, surrounded by vineyards and the mighty Murray River. Delinquente is our attempt at making the best wine we can from the place we grew up. Organically grown, minimal intervention, honest, hand-made wines that not only are great fun to drink, but represent the sun, the red dirt and uniquely Australian terroir of the Riverland. 

The Riverland can be very hot and very dry, particularly through the vines growing season. For that reason, we’ve chosen to work with Southern Italian grape varieties – varieties that are suited to the climate, need less water and are naturally drought resistant, are late ripening and retain natural acidity. In this way, they are more environmentally sustainable, and allow us to make wines with lower alcohol levels but heaps of freshness and flavour.

Delinquente is “delinquent” in Italian, which speaks to our desire to always buck the trend, break rules and do things our way. To that end, all of the incredible artwork for Delinquente, from the labels, to cartons, tees and even gifs, are created by our good friend Jason Koen, AKA “Ankles”. Delinquente is his passion project, evident in the intensity of his hand drawn labels which pop from across the room, and the deeply important and personal themes that they speak of.

Sometimes you’ve got to heed the call of the wild child within.

Sometimes you’ve got to go home with a bunch of grapes who’re ugly as sin