Poppelvej Zoonotic Spillover Mourvèdre

Winemaker: Uffe Deichmann

Appellation: South Australia, McLaren Vale, Australia

Grape Varieties: Mourvèdre

Ah 2020…the year that shall not be named:  wildfires, COVID, lockdowns, loss, despair, etc.  Uffe decided to find the humor in the lowest of times as a manner to help the wine world climb out of its depressed state.  He decided to take a literal approach to a theoretical cause of COVID-19, the unlikely zoonotic spillover.  Continuing on with the legacy of this wine Uffe again worked with the Paeroa Vineyard, which is also the source for ‘Dead Ohio Sky’ Rosé.  The typically feral nature of Mourvèdre gets a bit of a light-hearted approach here with a bit of semi-carbonic fermentation.  The Mediterranean-like climate of the Whites Valley of McLaren Vale brings higher tones to this maligned grape.

The fruit was hand-harvested in late-February and the fruit was left fully intact and fermented outdoors in large plastic fermenters with a lot of foot stomping.  Fermentation occurred naturally across ten days and after another ten days the fermentation was pressed directly to old French 300L barrels for maturation.  Five months later when the country was still locked down the wine was racked to tank to settle naturally and bottled without fining or filtration and with just a small addition of sulfur.

Let’s start with the first glaring question: what the heck is poppelvej? This Danish word refers to the street where brothers Jens and Uffe Deichmann grew up. It translates literally to “the street of poplars.”

This charming name is contrasted with the inky, self-deprecating humor that seems to underpin each label. If the Poppelvej wine lineup were a high school clique, they’d be the post-metal rock kids who stay up too late at night listening to Tool and reading Animal Farm. The names that adorn these wines are the likes of “Dead Ohio Sky,” “Vicissitudes of Life,” and “Zoonotic Spillover.”  The influence of the Led Zepplin and Tool eras is undeniable, but it doesn’t stop with the naming. Music is unquestionably the Deichmann brothers’ muse in the cellar, as each vintage’s wines becomes an embodiment of its harvest anthems.