The 2022 Prosecco Col Fondo is an unfiltered sparkling wine from Victoria's King Valley, made in the old col fondo method: the second fermentation finishes in the bottle and the wine is never disgorged, so the spent yeast stays in contact with it right through to the glass. It looks and drinks nothing like a mainstream prosecco.

Poured carefully it comes up hazy rather than bright, with a nose that mixes green apple and pear against bread crust and a savoury, slightly funky lift from the lees. The bubbles are coarser and more rustic than a filtered prosecco's fine mousse, but there's real texture to make up for it.

Without a dosage to soften it, the palate runs properly dry, with a grainy, textural mouthfeel and a long, slightly bitter-edged finish that rewards a second sip more than the first.

This is a food wine before it's an aperitif: think salumi boards, pizza bianca, fried seafood or anything with enough fat and salt to meet its savoury edge.

The cooler, later 2022 growing season across south-eastern Australia kept acidity high, and that line is doing real work here, carrying the lees character without letting the wine turn flabby. Drink it over the next year or so, cold, and give the bottle a gentle roll before pouring to bring the lees back into suspension.