Source: Winemaker,

Assertive aromas, bursting with blackberry, bramble and white pepper. Glossy dark cherry, mulberry fruit with fresh acidity and fine tannins. A classy wine that brings to the fore the best attributes of McLaren Vale Shiraz.

Colour: Deep dark red with a bright core.

Aroma
Notes of blue fruits accented by plum, blueberry and mulberry tones. Complexing notes of briar, bay leaf, coriander seeds, dried rose petals and ash.

Palate
Demonstrating a level of restraint for a McLaren Vale red, this Shiraz provides sweet blue fruit notes of fresh blueberry, juniper and mulberry bracketed by a cleansing pop of acidity and savoury tannin. The sweet fruit entry gently yields to savoury notes of dried bay leaf, briar, dried herbs and dried rose petals. A wine of sneaky length that catches you off-guard, it slowly builds across the palate. The late palate is puncuated by notes of ash and wild game.

Wine Making:
The grapes were crushed into and fermented in five, seven and 10 tonne open fermenters. During the peak of fermentation the batches received regular pump overs three times daily to extract colour, flavour and tannin. The average time on skins was 16 days. Once the parcels were dry, the fermenters were drained off and the skins pressed, with the pressings combined with the free run. After 24 hours the individual batches were racked to barrel where malolactic fermentation proceeded. The final blend was unfined and unfiltered prior to bottling.

Maturation
Aged for 12 months in 6% new French puncheons and hogsheads and the remainder in one to six year old French and American oak.

Cellar Potential
5-10 years, under optimal cellaring conditions.

Technical Info
Closure Type – Screwcap
Volume (ml) – 0750ml
Varietal – Shiraz
Region – McLaren Vale