About The Wine
This is not your average wine. Actually, it's not even made from average wine grapes...
The variety Fragola is part of the vitis labrusca family, a different genus of grape to the widely planted vitis vinifera varieties that fill the bottle shop shelves. Fragola is grown primarily for its phylloxera resistant rootstock, but here it makes a psychedelic wine.
There is very little of it planted in the whole country. Only three short rows are available to Taras Ochota, which makes around two to three barrels. In his opinion, "The weirdest grapes I’ve worked with, the weirdest wine I’ve made", which is saying something...
Weirdness factor aside, this is seriously good to drink. Brimming with jubey fruit and fascinating flavours.
One for the experimental wine lovers out there.
About Ochota Barrels
The term “rockstar winemaker” gets thrown around a lot these days but Taras Ochota, owner/purveyor of cult wine label Ochota Barrels, is the real deal.
His grungy, minimalist attitude towards his label has seen him gain huge cult status internationally as one of the most boundary-pushing winemakers in Australia. From his home in the beautiful Basket Range of the Adelaide Hills, Taras and his wife Amber craft small batches of wine from surrounding vineyards in the Hills and special sites across McLaren Vale and the Barossa Valley. Taras picks earlier than most as a general rule, so expect lighter, more ethereal wines with freshness and 'tension' as a motif.
These are highly sought after and extremely limited wines which have a pulsating energy and drive to them. Some of the country's most exciting vinous creations, no doubt.
Basket Range, SA
From The Producer
Fragola is a very rare variety in Australia which is also known as Isabella or Odessa. A few canes smuggled from Calabria in the late eighties were planted to make family wine for an Italian family that settled to the Piccadilly Valley Adelaide Hills in the 1950’s.
It is the only vineyard that Taras has ever been in that you can actually smell the fruit down the row ….and that fruit is frijolas and strawberries.
Handpicked mid march
Destemmed berry fermentation for 5 days
Basket pressed to seasoned French barriques
Unfined and unfiltered
No additions besides 20ppm so2 at bottling
Blend : Fragola (100%)
ABV : 9.50%
Closure : Cork
Drink Until : 2024
Bottle Size : 750ml
Basket Range, SA
Critic Reviews
Bit tighter and more even paced than last year. Welch's grape soda, a fruit salad from the tropics. Guava, feijoa some purple jube lollies as the base notes. A slippery, glycerol mouthfeel. Juicy acidity and raspberry lollies. Hyper-coloured, flavour on warp speed, medium in body and strangely moreish. - Different Drop Wine Team
Delivery is Free for any order of $99 or more, or just $10 for any orders less than $99. There is no minimum order quantity and you can mix and match as much as you like. Make your perfect mixed pack! In Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Byron Bay we deliver with our own vans. All other areas are serviced by Australia Post.
Sydney Metro orders in the Pink Zone will be delivered the next day 5 days per week, Monday through Friday. Orders in the Blue Zone will be delivered on Tuesdays and Fridays. Everything outside these zones will be delivered by Australia Post.
Melbourne Metro orders are picked up at 12pm from our Sydney warehouse every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and delivered the following day in Melbourne (Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri). Please refer to this map to see if your address is considered Melbourne Metro here. Everything outside of this zone will be dispatched next business day with Australia Post.
Brisbane Metro orders are picked up from our Sydney warehouse every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 12pm and delivered on Thursday or Friday. Please refer to this map to see if your address is considered Brisbane Metro here. Everything outside of this zone will be dispatched next business day with Australia Post.
Australia Wide Deliveries To the rest of Australia we use Australia Post. The Australia Post Collection Truck picks up orders from our Sydney warehouse every weekday at midday. If your order is placed before 12pm we’ll get it on the truck that day. Delivery times vary considerably with Australia Post and unfortunately there is no Express Delivery Option for wine (because it is fragile and heavy). PLEASE NOTE that we are currently seeing significant delays in the Australia Post delivery network. Strict government health and safety requirements and very high parcel volumes are causing significant backlogs at the main NSW and VIC sorting facilities. Orders are still arriving safe and sound but you may notice slower delivery times and less frequent scanning updates than usual.
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Returns are free for 100 days after purchase. You can view the conditions of our return policy here
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Do I have to order in dozens? No, please mix it up! You can order wines in any quantity and variation you like. You can order 1 bottle or 50. We challenge you to make the ultimate mixed pack of wine!
Are there volume discounts? No, our pricing is designed to be the best in market already - no marking up and then discounting down! For very large orders (weddings, etc) we are open to negotiating though. Just give us a call.
Do we price match? Yes, within reason. Everyday low & consistent pricing is something we strongly believe in. We want our customers to feel confident they are always getting the best price. If you see a price lower somewhere else let us know and we'll consider matching it. We'll even retrospectively issue you store credit if you have already purchased from us but you see a lower price somewhere later on. Our price match policy can be seen here.
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I am trying to add more of a wine to my cart but it won’t let me? This means we are running low on stock of that wine. So for example, if the website will only allow you to add 3 bottles and no more, then that is all we have of that particular wine. The good news is we may be able to order more for you. Just contact us on 1300 668 385 or hello@differentdrop.com and we'll organise the additional quantity for you.
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More FaQs: here
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