Borachio
About
Wine wasn’t the original goal - Mark Warner and Alicia Basa first got radicalized on produce, thinking about food provenance and where they should spend their money. Farmers markets were a straight path to the bottle shop, and before they knew it, they were working their first harvest with James Erskine of Jauma and picking up their entire lives to give winemaking a go. According to Mark, “I had kind of a shit job back in Sydney that I didn’t want. Thought this would be a polite way to get out.”
From Jauma they made a beeline to France, working with Sylvian Martinez in the Loire, visiting friends in Arbois and then to Catalonia, where they worked closely with Nuria Renom. After their return to Australia, they gravitated towards the late Taras Ochota, who taught them to eschew standard natural wine mysticism in favor of experimenting and rigorous testing. By 2016, they were harvesting on their own, just a tiny nearby vineyard, and cobbling together an idiosyncratic theory of natural wine with an almost aggressively anti-romantic viewpoint, often at odds with other no-sulfur winemakers. “We don't do the woo woo stuff, we still aren’t sure about what works all the time so we’re happy to use, like actual tools. We [in the Australian natural wine community] have all made wines that turned into yogurt, so we had to dial in to see what was fucking us.”
As of now, it’s safe to say that Borachio has dialed in, releasing fully no additive wines each year with both admirable stability and a clear vision of what they like to make and drink: salty wines made from grapes no one wants to pronounce (future vintages are going to feature a ton more sciaccarellu than one would expect), or according to the ever poetic Mark, “easy-to-drink wines without the gross bits like tannins and alcohol.” Their home territory ranges from McLaren Vale to Mount Compass on the Fleurieu peninsula of South Australia, a roughly Mediterranean climate with deep pockets of sandy soil, which Mark and Alicia regard as their secret weapon of sorts, supercharging the acid in the finished wine. High acidity, the couple asserts, is the key to no-sulfur winemaking. “We’re selling romance and dreams. Wine is an escape and for you to have that escape I need the PH to be below 3.5.”
To get PHs that low, the duo have become blending enthusiasts, utilizing chardonnay, especially, as an acid kick. “We use it to lower acid so we can fucking sleep at night.” While this sounds simple, it’s incredibly effective – and, anything that doesn’t pan out correctly, they distill or make into their house vermouth. All of this has added up to some of the most energetic natural wines in our portfolio - wines of poise and grace that still, somehow, retain the feeling of being entirely unplanned, as if a collection of atoms just decided one day to make something delicious and vibrant. On offer today are a collection of the 2021s and 2022s, which is a rare treat as their wines tend to get snagged and drank immediately – with age, the wines become “what they should be.” The 2021s, especially, have benefited from a few years of age, with some of the spikier notes replaced with gentle curves. We’ve always been truly absolutely nuts about these wines, and are super thrilled to be going direct with them and offering waaaaaaay sharper pricing so that everyone else can see what the fuss is about.
Products
White Blend 'Battered Sav'
Rosé Pet Nat 'Pash Rash'
Organic. 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Pinot Gris, 20% Chardonnay. Fruit comes from the very sandy soils of the Fleurieu Peninsula. The grapes are foot-stomped, then pressed off into stainless steel tank for co-ferment; it’s bottled with some RS to enable it to become a pét-nat in bottle. Unfined, unfiltered, zero SO2 added. Mark’s notes on it are as follows: “It’s like, they start off as a nice-enough kid, a little rough and tumble. Then, they get into punk, 6 shots of mezcal and a fist full of acid. Don’t like it? Your problem!” Bright funky strawberry fruit, charred herbs, round palate—a salty, fruity, bitter bomb.
Merlot/Pinot Grigio 'Flat Out'
Organic. 60% Merlot, 40% Pinot Gris. Fruit comes from the very sandy soils of the Fleurieu Peninsula (Mark says, “SAND SAND SAND”). Carbonic maceration in stainless steel tanks, with fermentation lasting a bit over a week; blended together after ferment. Unfined, unfiltered, zero SO2 added. Notes of dark strawberry compote, stewed plums, black tea, fresh herbs. It’s light red, it’s dark rosé—chill it down and get ‘flat out like a lizard drinking.’
Savagnin
Organic. 100% Savagnin. From the Mount Compass vineyard, a very sandy-soiled site with relatively high rainfall—Mark says the site is frequently conflated with the McLaren Vale but has a cooler and more coastal feel. Whole-cluster pressed, fermented in stainless steel, then moved to various old barrels for a around six months of rest. Unfined, unfiltered, zero SO2 added. Another homage from Borachio to the limestone-y Jura, but viewed through the salty, cool lens of this pocket of the Adelaide Hills. Elegant. Borachio’s notes: “For whatever reason I’ve always been drawn to the salty side of life, maybe growing up on a peninsula, being naughty kids hooning around in tinnies, going fishing, getting as much hot chips as you had loose change, ripping oysters of the rocks... yeah, makes perfect sense when I write it down.”
Carbonic Chardonnay
Organic. 100% Chardonnay from the Basket Range. This vineyard source is technically within the McLaren Vale GI, but is situated high up, 350msl, on a clay heavy ridge with chunks of ironstone in the soil. It’s a site that has more in common with the ‘hills’ part of the Adelaide hills, more so than what’s understood of the Vale. 100% whole-cluster ferment in stainless steel via carbonic maceration; no pigeage/pumpover, what winemaker Mark Warner calls “fruit locked down for a week, zero forced extraction.” Fruit was then pressed off gently back into stainless steel to finish ferment, then moved into 300L barrels for several months of élevage before bottling. Unfined, unfiltered, zero SO2. Winemaker’s instructions: “Feels like day three, or even day five, is the window for this one, but live your life. Don’t serve too cold. Your standard gross-red-wine temp works best and a firm decant doesn’t hurt either.”
Sangiovese
Organic. 100% Sangiovese from a single vineyard on Mt. Torrens. 100% whole-cluster ferment in stainless steel via carbonic maceration; no pigeage/pumpover, what winemaker Mark Warner calls “fruit locked down for a week, zero forced extraction.” Fruit was pressed off gently back into stainless, then racked off gross lees for bottling after around six months. Unfined, unfiltered, zero SO2. Finished wine at only 10.8% alcohol! This is the last iteration of the Mt. Torrens Sangioves that these guys will make, as “the vines are no longer with us.” But team Borachio is a big fan of Sangiovese, so they’re hoping they’ll find another good source to produce one of these lovely reds again.
Pinot Noir Pinot Gris Chardonnay Fleurieu
Organic. 80% Pinot Noir, 10% Pinot Gris, 10% Chardonnay (roughly). All vineyard parcels for this wine are from Mount Compass, which is glacial sand over yellow clay soils. This is predominantly whole-cluster Pinot Noir, foot-stomped and pressed off after a few days into 300L barrels (giving it a L’Anglore-esque ruby hue and translucence); there’s a touch of carbonic Pinot Noir from tank also blended in, and direct-pressed Pinot Gris done over whole clusters of Pinot Noir, also fermented/aged in 300L barrels. Chardonnay is direct-pressed and also barrel-fermented (500L barrel). The reason for this wine's existence: in 2021, Adelaide Hills harvests gave abundant Pinot Noir (“It RAINED Pinot,” winemaker Mark says). The idea behind adding Pinot Gris and Chardonnay to the blend, in addition to giving the wine length and focus, is to lower the PH for stability in a zero-additive wine. Unfined, filtered, zero SO2. Winemakers' notes: “The blend is kinda like painting, but with a bit more of an end goal in mind from the start. We’ve really honed in on sandy soils in the last couple of years, we love the aromatic lift and light weight it gives to reds, as well as the salinity and freshness it gives to whites. It’s the future!”
Red Wine 'Show Pony' Fleurieu
Organic. 30% Savagnin, 25% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Noir, 10% Dolcetto (more or less). The Chardonnay and Savagnin are both 2020, two 300L barrels that “didn’t make the cut on the standard Chardo/Sav wines for that vintage.” Blended with a splash of fully carbonic Pinot Noir as well as Dolcetto rosé, both from 2021. Winemaker Mark Warner calls it, sardonically, “a real classic. I’d say most of our wines are made with a clear idea in mind from harvest to élevage to bottle. This isn’t that, made more like painting. A splash of this a wash of that - voilà! Previous iterations have been either rosé or pseudo-rosé. This time we’re firmly in the light/chilled red/park wine zone. Crunchy, cloudy, bright red fun time wine.”
Rose Pet Nat 'Summer Nat' McLaren Vale
Sauvignon Blanc 78%, Cabernet Franc 22% McLaren Vale, Blewitt Springs | Adelaide Hills, Forreston 11.6% • PH 3.29 • VA .76 • TA 6.6 • So2 0 free, 0mg/L total (none added) Direct Pressed Sauvignon Blanc from Forreston, with around 20% Blewit Springs Cab Franc for colour, flavour and vibe. Darker than previous iterations and better for it. Whilst pet nat is more often than firmly in the grab and go department, if you’ve got a minute, let this one breathe. Kinda darker Lambrusco territory (ruby), but tighter around the corners. An Acid line from the Sauv Blanc and blue fruit from the franc hinting at generosity. It’s a time! ENSURE THIS ONE IS CHILLED - Open with gusto, or creep the cap off, SANTÉ!
Orange Wine 'Resistance is Futile'
Pinot Grigio 41%, Sauvignon Blanc, 41% Chardonnay 18% Adelaide Hills, Forreston, Landsdowne Vineyard 12.2% • PH 3.53 • VA .85 • TA 5.8 • So2 0 free, 9mg/L total (none added) Orange wines by Australian standards, for us, are mostly undercooked and unfinished. As aficionados of the style, we needed some time to collect our thoughts. Resistance is futile is the culmination of these ponderings. Equal portions of Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc with Chardonnay making up 20% of the mix. All de-stemmed fruit, sealed up and left alone to infuse for a couple of weeks. Free run drained to barrel with a tiny portion of pressings in the final mix, for pucker and chew. Some reduction keeps things tight, so, decant if you’re in a rush. Seriously, slow down. Peach ice tea is the obvious first impression. I love the length and the chew of it, one of those bottles that when you pour out the final glass, you realise it’s hit it’s straps, but there’s none left.
Chardonnay/Savagnin
Chardonnay 75%, Savagnin 25% Fleurieu, Mount Compass 12.6% • PH 3.22 • VA .38 • TA 6.4 • So2 0 free, 3mg/L total (none added) Around an 80/20 split in favour of Chardonnay. All direct pressed and barrel fermented in 500L barrels. Somewhat more weight and power than previous iterations, all kept in check by Savagnin’s amazing acidity. Lime splice, with a generous long and quenching palate. Quite a gastronomic wine, savour if you can. This is our world.
Rose 'Perfect Match' (Chard/Dolcetto)
Chardonnay 80%, Dolcetto 20% Adelaide Hills, Mount Torrens | McLaren Vale, The Range 11.9% • PH 3.24 • VA .83 • TA 6.6 • So2 0 free, 14mg/L total (none added) Classic blends, classic for a reason. Direct Pressed Chardonnay from barrel w/direct pressed Dolcetto from tank. Perfect copper in colour, surprisingly cohesive and fast becoming a knock off favourite. If you close your eyes you could trick yourself into thinking you’re drinking a pretty bloody good Chardy, wild. The Dolcetto brings some refreshing acidity with a touch of raspberry, wacky on paper, I know. But trust me, the bottle won’t last. Feels complete.
Pinot Grigio 'Forreston'
Adelaide Hills, Forreston, Landsdowne Vineyard 10.8% • PH 3.4 • VA .69 • TA 5.7 • So2 0 free, 6mg/L total (none added) Pinot Gris from Forreston, hand picked nice and early. Destemmed and left to macerate for a week.Pressed to barrel for a long sleep. Bottled December 2023. Super ruby, orange hue. First whiff, candied peach. Acidity sits atop some subtle tannin, making for a textural, Orange/Pink drink. Pretty darn delightful. Drink cool, not cold.
