Shut the Gate Ripple Iron Sangiovese 2022

Richard Woods and Rasa Fabian founded Shut the Gate in 2007 after both spent years in commercial wine industry roles. The pair purchased a small Clare Valley vineyard and a 100-tonne contract winery, and spent five years relaunching that earlier label before establishing Shut the Gate as their own brand. The Watervale cottage that now serves as cellar door sits at the entrance to the Watervale village in the southern Clare Valley.

The Clare Valley's Watervale and Polish Hill River subregions are the spine of the Shut the Gate Riesling line — Watervale produces softer fruit-forward wines and Polish Hill the more austere mineral expressions. The For Love Watervale Riesling won Adelaide Review's Hot 100 Wines in 2019. Beyond Riesling, the house experiments with Italian and Mediterranean varieties (Fiano, Gewürztraminer, Sangiovese, Negroamaro, Barbera) alongside the standard South Australian Grenache and Shiraz.

Slow-cooked beef, ossobuco, hard sheep's-milk cheeses; a working Italian-variety expression for cellar lists.