Vino Volta - International Concorso Vermentino 2026
- Jul 28
- 2 min read
Firstly we need to thank Sarah Gough from Box Grove Vineyard who along with Mark O’Dwyer organised representation of a selection of Aussie Vermentino’s at the International Vermentino Concorso. Thank you also to Wine Australia for helping out with getting Australia reperesented.
According to Sarah and Mark the Concorso was crazy…. busy … noisy….very interesting and almost the opposite environment to an Australian wine show. Getting the right wines involved animated discussions just as you would expect in Italy. There were winemakers there from all over Italy, Corsica, South Africa, California, Brazil, Georgia, the Black Sea…. It was a good chance to network and chat about our own Vermentinos, the soil, pests - (California gophers eat the roots in the vineyard, Africa the monkeys can get into the canopy and fruit!)….Everyone agreed it is a variety that copes well with our changing/warming climate and really does well when the soil it grows in has granite and minerals in it and there are plenty of cooling winds in the heat of Summer.
We were thrilled to learn that our 2024 Sole Bambino Vermentino was one of four Australian Vermentino’s to be awarded a gold medal. There was a nice spread of wineries from Australia that took out gold - Fowles from Avenel in Central Victoria, Ricca Terra from the Riverland, Olivers Taranga Vermentino from McLaren Vale in South Australia and of course Vino Volta from Geographe in Western Australia. All of these climates are warm with summer temperatures averaging 28-31C and with peaks in some cases over 40C. This is not far different to Sardinia which might be considered Vermentino's spiritual home. It certainly has the widest area planted to the variety.
Vermentino from Sardinia, Liguria, Sicily are all grown in warm coastal climes and the favoured vermentino’s over there share richness in flavour and texture. Alcohols can often push 13.5-14.5%. This contradicts the more traditional Australian style that is much leaner and saline. There are a few Aussie producers out there that are pushing ripeness. We are of the belief that at least 50% of the grapes need to become golden in colour. This is when the grapes start to show some lovely peachy and tropical fruit flavours. Each year that we have made this variety we have pushed ripeness a little more. Vermentino is a big grape and we want to ensure flavour and texture so we leave it on skins for 24hrs before pressing and fermenting as turbid juice in large format old oak. Ferments are natural as this gives us the tastiest and most textural wine. Our aim is for a richer style somewhat inspired by the European examples. Vermentino is Vermentino it should look different it should age differently to what wa are already working with.
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