South Australia
The husband and wife team of Brendan and Laura Carter began their winemaking journey right after college and named it Unico Zelo, Italian for “unique zeal”, as they both shared a desire to move to Italy to learn the winemaking traditions that produced many of their favorite wines. Their unique zeal wasn’t to make Italian wine, however, or to make Australian wine to export, but to make Australian wine for Australians. Part of the idea was to make wine from grapes that were actually well suited to the Australian climate and could therefore be made in a natural, sustainable way and it so happens that many Italian varietals are very drought and heat resistant. It worked! Sounds great, except despite their prominence at the Summer Olympics, and despite the country’s huge geographic size, the population of Australia is actually far less than that of California (27.5 million to 38.7 million), so after a few years they began exporting, too. Fine with us. As of 2021 Unico Zelo is B Corp Certified, so you can drink wine that is good for you, the planet, the people that make it AND your wallet. This finely tuned orange spends two weeks on the skins and ages for a year in a 3000L French oak cask. Flavors of lime zest and juice, green apple and pear, underripe apricot, rose hips. The wines freshness, low alcohol and tannins make this compelling wine a very versatile food companion: aged cheeses, spicy and exotic fish dishes as well as brussel sprouts.