Shop/Orange & Skin-Contact/Unico Zelo "Esoterico"
Riverland & Clare Valley, SA
Unico Zelo "Esoterico" 2023
Unico Zelo
The friendliest way into orange wine — bright, lifted, gentle on the funk.
$27.00
750mlVintage may change. If it does, we’ll notify you of any price adjustment before dispatch.
About
A skin-contact blend of Zibibbo, Gewürztraminer and Moscato Giallo from Brendan and Laura Carter — Unico Zelo's bohemian cult favourite. Lifted aromatics, soft tannin from the skin contact, gentle amber colour. The orange wine that converts orange-wine sceptics.
The fruit comes off ancient sandy limestone in the Riverland, topped up with a parcel from the Clare Valley. Brendan and Laura Carter treat the two picks as one wine, not two. Skin contact does the work of pulling colour and grip from both.
Handling stays deliberately hands-off. Nothing goes in beyond a touch of sulphur at bottling, and there is no fining or filtration. The wine settles by gravity alone, so a light haze and a little sediment in the glass is the process, not a flaw.
Pour it lightly chilled rather than fridge-cold and give the glass a swirl before you drink. It sits well next to Thai food, where the ginger and mandarin lift has plenty to answer to.
Producer note
Brendan and Laura Carter's Adelaide Hills-based Unico Zelo is widely credited with making orange wine mainstream in Australia. Esoterico has been their cult bottle since launch — regularly described as 'the gateway orange wine'. Unfined, unfiltered, vegan-friendly.
Structure
Pairs with
Picked on Stef's structure profile.
