Primo Estate JOSEPH Sparkling Red NV

New bottle shape, so for all the long term hand-wringers about the ultra-tall bottles for cellaring, now you’ve got a new thing to wrangle. There’s been this switch up with this wine in the last many releases; purity, freshness, levity, energy. It nails that brief this year too.

Sure, richness, a little cloying generosity, but so too a grip and grunt of silty tannin, clove and cinnamon spice, figs and dates, ginger, all the dark cherry, forest berry compote, some Black Forest cake and a lift of blood orange sorbet through all this. It feels lifted, energetic, the bubbles are ultra refreshing, the core a chime of briny freshness, the generosity around it all metered, balanced and lip-smacking. So complex. So interesting. So darn delicious.

96 pts, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front 

“Sells out very quickly after release...One of Australia's treasures.” - James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion.

“The depth and complexity on parade here reflect all of  the nuanced history of  its grand recipe spanning six decades of components. The result utterly transcends any list of descriptors that could possibly be conceived, laced together with super fine tannins and generous yet perfectly judged dosage. An inimitable benchmark that everyone must experience." - Tyson Stelzer, The Australian Sparkling Report.

“My forever Xmas wine… The Primo Estate Joseph Sparkling Red is the genre of red fizz that we should be celebrating, too. It’s a master stock of a wine, that couples the punch and power of young McLaren Vale Cabernet, Merlot and Shiraz with a treasure-trove solera of old Aussie wine things.” - Andrew Graham, The Australian Wine Review.