From Fred Howard’s 83 years old bush vines, grown on the white sands of McLaren Flat. The tiny berries produced from these old vines, made for a powerful wine, filled with fine & firm tannins. Handpicked over three different ripeness levels, fully destemmed & open fermented, with a portion left on skins for 4 months. Matured until the following harvest in older, larger format oak, followed by 9 further months maturation in tank.

Slow Lane is a small winery ran by Federica Marzetti & Dom Smith, based 15 minutes south of Mount Gambier, South Australia (Dom’s hometown).

Slow Lane was based in McLaren Vale for six years, where they were both making wine & working in different vineyards, but something was pulling them down here.

All of the signs were there: Australia’s two youngest volcanoes (Mount Gambier & Mount Schank) only 10 minutes apart, the influence of limestone, healthy rainfall, a very cool climate & incredible diurnal range.
Eventually we pulled the trigger. Federica, who’s been living in Australia since 2020 after leaving Italy, was somehow convinced to shift her life again to Mount Gambier to explore the grape growing & winemaking potential down here.