NATURAL WINE｜2023 Delinquente Hell Riverland Rose

2023 Delinquente Hell Rosé

Varietal Composition｜40% Aglianico, 20% Malvasia, 40% Nero d’Avola
Flavour｜Pretty, savoury-driven rosé with subtle fruit expression, lifted acidity and a pithy grip.
Palate｜Delicate, fresh and textural. Red fruits meet savoury undertones, balanced with bright acidity and a lightly grippy finish from Malvasia skin contact.
Bottling Date｜December 2023
Release Date｜March 2024
Production｜2,400 bottles
Alcohol｜11%

About the Vineyard
Vintage 2023 was one of the coldest, wettest and most challenging in recent memory. Years of heavy rain on the east coast culminated in Murray River flooding at near record levels in the Riverland. Persistent rain through spring and early summer slowed ripening and heightened disease pressure, testing both growers and winemakers. Thankfully, a healthy vineyard and some late autumn sunshine helped the fruit mature, producing a range of more subtle, elegant wines.

Vinification
The Hell Series showcases Delinquente’s experimentation with winemaking, giving fruit the chance to express unique and compelling characters. For the 2023 Rosé, a saignée was taken from Aglianico and Nero d’Avola ferments, adding structure to the reds in a cool, wet year while introducing savoury complexity into the rosé base. After blending post-fermentation, the wine was kept in stainless steel over winter with no oak. A component of Malvasia, given nine months in barrel with skin contact, was added prior to bottling to lift fruit character and provide a pithy grip.

About Delinquente
All wines are from single vineyards, fermented with wild yeast, made vegan, and produced with minimal intervention. Winemaker Con-Greg focuses less on tannins and oak, and more on acidity, texture and layered fruit purity.

The striking tattoo-inspired labels are created by street artist Ankles, depicting everyday people as quirky, provocative, tattoo-covered characters. They perfectly reflect Delinquente’s ethos: fun, unpretentious, and deeply rooted in terroir. The wines aim to stand apart from prestigious cult bottles and to shift perceptions of the Riverland as simply a bulk-wine region.

Con-Greg’s fresh approach to winemaking has been widely recognised, earning him the 2018 South Australian Young Gun of Wine Award. As he says:
“We’re making weird, tiny-batch wines in the country’s biggest wine region—so in a way, that makes us Delinquente.”