Unico Zelo is an innovative winery located in the Adelaide Hills, established by the dynamic duo Brendan and Laura Carter. The couple launched Unico Zelo fresh from university in 2014, with a focus on producing Italian-inspired, textural, and site-expressive wines.
They explore lesser-known varieties and regions, notably giving significant attention to Fiano and Nero d’Avola, showcasing distinct vineyard characteristics along with varietal ones. This approach has led them to work with progressive growers in South Australia’s Riverland, highlighting the nuance and individuality of each site.
In the expansive portfolio of Italian-inspired wines Unico Zelo produces, they count their Pipe Dream Nero d'Avola among their best. In its homeland, this grape is the de facto flag bearer for Sicily, capable of making boatloads of easy drinking table wine, but when farmed attentively, it is destined for greatness. And so it can handle the dry and warm conditions of Australia with grace, maintaining a racy acidity while ripening a host of pure, primary red and blue fruits.
Nero looks absolutely at home year after year in Riverland, as it’s able to achieve a balanced level of ripeness that we just don’t see year on year with the other regions - it’s probably the easiest of the three to decide when to pick. It’s bang-on this year, and as always it looks just that little bit Gamay-esque, almost Cru Beaujolais. Really lovely sweet nutmeg and baking spice aromatics, with a woody, cedary undercurrent, backed up by these bright punchy blue and brambly black fruits. Great mineral drive this year, salty acid line framed by crispy tannins. A bit of meaty chew to it.
