Delinquente 'Jaybird' Bianco Macerato 2024 (750 ml)

50% Fiano, 30% Arinto, 20% Malvasia

Region: Riverland

Vineyard: Bassham Family Organic Vineyard, Barmera

Yeast: Wild

Harvest Date: March 2024

Bottling Date: June 2024

Release Date: August 2024

Barrel or Stainless: Stainless

Alcohol: 11.5%

The Bianco Macerato is an easy drinking, approachable skin contact white wine. Each parcel was fermented separately – the Fiano is pressed off skins straight away, while the other parcels were fermented on skins until sugar dry, up to 14 days. Each parcel was allowed to go through malolactic fermentation and settle out before being blended just prior to bottling.

The combination of fruit forward, acid driven and aromatic varieties, combined with extended skin contact, creates a wine that is at once thought provoking, interesting, but also refreshing and delicious. Pine/lime Splice on the nose, the Malvasia really pops through up front. Mongo sorbet creaminess and tropical fruit open up the palate, while a gentle, round tannin, subtle bitterness and balanced acidity give great length to wine. Party at the front, business at the back, sort of deal.

Vintage 2024 was just about the perfect vintage. Warm but not too hot, and bone dry during the growing season, was welcome change from the past couple of years, allowing the fruit to ripen steadily. Meanwhile, cool nights kept acids and freshness high. With decent yields across the board, we had flexibility in our winemaking, selecting the best parcels and blending to make a suite of wines we are super stoked with, and excited to share with the world.

Tech Sheet

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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.