Description
Vineyards:
Mataro – Fromm Vineyard, Williamstown. Stevens Vineyard, Vine Vale
Shiraz – Stansborough Vineyard, Williamstown Planted 2000
Grenache – Zerk Vineyard, Lyndoch Planted 1961
Blend:
Mataro 54%, Grenache 24%, Shiraz 22%
Winemaking:
The Mataro and Grenache were hand picked with the Shiraz machine picked. All parcels were fermented separately allowing each parcel to express themselves before blending. All three varieties were fermented in open fermenters, up to 5% whole clusters were used in the Mataro and 25% in the Grenache with 5% in the Shiraz. Temperatures were allowed to reach 30C in both the Grenache and Mataro, hand plunging was performed 3 times daily. After 8 days on skins for the Shiraz, 9 days for the Grenache and Mataro, the wines were basket pressed and transferred into older French hogsheads and puncheons to undergo malo-lactic fermentation. The wines were then left on lees to mature for 8 months before careful blending.
Tasting Notes:
Vibrant colour leads to a lovely bright nose that invites you in. A complex array of aromas of blackberry, cherry, spice, fennel seed and earth. The palate is agile and lively with a great balance of fruit sweetness, flesh and textural tannin that we think gives the wine flavour, elegance and texture.
Cellaring:
Drink now or cellar carefully and enjoy over the next 6 years.
Analysis:
Alc 14.4 %, pH 3.55, TA 5.6, RS 2.1 g/l, VA 0.46 g/l
Current Vintage Accolades
2019 Adelaide Wine Show – Bronze Medal
2019 Barossa Wine Show – Silver Medal
Previous Vintage Accolades
2017 Vintage
2018 Barossa Wine Show – Bronze Medal
2018 Adelaide Wine Show – Bronze Medal
James Halliday – 95 Points
Wine Showcase Magazine – 94 Points
Patrick Eckel – 93 Points
Winefront (Campbell Mattinson) – 91 Points
2016 Vintage
Campbell Mattinson – 94 Points
Patrick Eckel – 93 Points
James Halliday – 95 Points
Adelaide Wine Show – Gold Medal
Barossa Wine Show – Gold Medal
2015 Vintage
James Halliday 94 points – Tasting Notes
2014 Vintage
Wine Showcase Magazine 93 points,
James Halliday 95 pts
2015 Top Cellaring Suggestions
2013 Vintage
96 pts James Halliday
Selected in Adelaide Review Hot 100 Wines
2012 Vintage
95 points James Halliday
2011 Vintage
92 points James Halliday
Reviews
A 54/24/22% blend, the bouquet rich and very expressive of dark berry/cherry fruits with an aura of spice and earth. The vintage was tailor-made for the elegantly textured Purple Hands style, this wine no exception, the tannins so fine they are almost silky. – James Halliday Wine Companion (95 Points – 2017 vintage)
“Unfettered style of red. Free-flowing. Mid-weight. Fruit, earth, florals and sweet spice notes. It’s like walking into a red rose garden, decaying and fresh. It expresses itself with complete freedom, and is a pleasure to spend time with as a result” – Campbell Mattinson 91 Points
“A blend of 54% Mataro, 24% Grenache and 24% Shiraz, with a lot to like from this unusual blend. The Mataro gives structure and masculinity with a prettiness from the Grenache and richness afforded by Shiraz. The nose has dark cherry and plum fruit pitted against roasted meats and a touch of cedar spice. There is a floral prettiness to the wine initially that is more in the red cherry and ripe plum spectrum; the tannins build in influence with an underlying spice. The finish is more serious with a brine and leather note to plum and blackberry that underwrites future development” – Patrick Eckel 93 Points
