Wine review: Ravensworth nebbiolo, sangiovese and garnacha

Bryan Martin takes on two of the most challenging red wines to grow and make.

The Ravensworth story starts around 2001, when life and business partners Bryan and Jocelyn Martin plus brother David Martin got the show on the road with a "seems like a good idea at the time" attitude.

Bryan is the man for all seasons, with dual wine science and wine growing degrees from Charles Sturt University, crossing to the netherworld of retailing and then back to the saints with wine education. In 2004 he ascended to the right hand of Tim Kirk as assistant winemaker at Clonakilla.

One might speculate that he has sought absolution by going where angels fear to tread: sangiovese and nebbiolo, absent from the Clonakilla portfolio, and two of the most challenging red wines to grow and make. (Pinot noir is, of course, the other.) Shiraz viognier and riesling are estate grown and relatively easy to master — and Ravensworth has done just that, with some excellent wines over the past three years. But the 2013 vintage also produced a startlingly good nebbiolo (Martin's first such wine) from the Mullaney vineyard in the Hilltops region, a seriously good estate-grown sangiovese, a garnacha blend, and a debut gamay in 2015. In 2014 came stellar sangiovese (97 points) and a mighty follow-up nebbiolo (96); the 2015 wines were very good, even if a shade behind the'13s. Given the overall quality of the'15 vintage, the wines make the'13s and'14s even more exceptional — until you taste the'15 gamay.

The obvious question is: where did these wines come from? The Ravensworth wines are made at Clonakilla, Tim Kirk and Bryan Martin on the winery floor all day, every day, and while Kirk is in no way beholden to Martin, it's certain he would have tasted the Ravensworth wines through the fermentation process and made softly, softly comments. It's nice to have good neighbours, better still if you have a neighbour such as Kirk, one of the best winemakers of our times.

2015 RAVENSWORTH CANBERRA DISTRICT SANGIOVESE

Includes 6% cabernet sauvignon, wild openfermented in five batches, 2-4 weeks on skins, matured in used French oak. Light, bright colour; the bowl of cherries on the bouquet becomes more complex on the medium-bodied, very long, savoury/spicy palate. Almost painfully pure; in a year you'll be very happy.

13% alc, screw cap 94 points, drink to 2030, $25

2015 RAVENSWORTH HILLTOPS NEBBIOLO

Deeper colour than most nebbiolos, with intense crimson; rose petals, spice, earth and a lick of tar and dried herbs lead to a generous and relatively rounded palate, the trademark savoury tannins driving the length.

13.5% alc, screw cap 95 points, drink to 2030, $36

2015 RAVENSWORTH GARNACHA TINTA Y CINQ-SAO

A blend of grenache and cinsaut, whole berrysorted, open-fermented with wild yeast, 14 days on skins, matured for 5 months in used oak. Light, bright crimson; the palate opens with the calm of red berry fruits before a storm of savoury, fine, persistent tannins and crisp acidity on the finish.

12.5% alc, screw cap 91 points, drink to 2022, $32