Nose
White pepper, raspberries, plum blossoms and cracked allspice.
A juicy and vibrant wine with bright and lifted cool climate Syrah flavours. Plums, dark blue fruits, violets, subtle spice and rose flavours combine with elegance.
Palate
On the palate, bright natural acidity and bristling tannins deliver vibrant flavours of bramble fruits and wild spices, with an opulent finish of blackberries, cedar and freshly ground coffee.
The palate is really smart and fine-seamless and with great finesse and length. A beautiful wine for drinking or ageing.
Growing Conditions
The 2020 vintage in Margaret River produced considerably lower than average fruit yields, particularly with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc where fruit development has affected by adverse weather conditions during November. The fruit produced, although limited in quantity, was of exquisite quality and 2020 could well end up being and outstanding vintage. Spring fruit development was early followed by fine sunny, dry conditions throughout the summer months. This, combined with lower yields, brought an early start to harvest, with Chardonnay picked approximately 2 weeks ahead of average. Conditions were ideal early on with no disease and minimal bird pressure due to timely onset of Marri Blossom. Bird pressure increased following rainfall in late February. Conditions cooled slightly in the later summer months, extending the red vintage, but delivering ideal tannin ripening and fruit flavour preservation.
- Single Vineyard 100% Syrah
Harvest
14 March 2020
Syrah fruit was picked in the early hours of morning.
Bottling
- Screw Cap
- 12 February 2021
Winemaking
Equal quantities of whole-bunch and de-stemmed fruit, cold fermentation and 10 months maturation in French Oak Puncheons on fine lees with fortnightly bâttonage, all contribute to the production of this classic, elegant Syrah with great ageing potential.
50% of the fruit was hand-picked and kept as whole bunches, with the remaining fruit de-stemmed as whole berries on top of the whole-bunch clusters. Fermentation was kept cool and slow, allowing the whole fruit bunches to introduce a wild and exotic array of spices and brooding aromatics, and ultra-fine tendrils of tannin. Fermenting fruit was hand-plunged 2-3 times a day for 12 days, allowing gentle breakdown of the whole-bunch clusters. The resulting wine was gravity drained, and the skins gently pressed, before transfer to French Oak Puncheons (30% of which were new) for 10 months. Throughout the maturation process the wine was aged on fine lees with fortnightly bâttonage and then blended, lightly fined and filtered before bottling.
Aging
French Oak Puncheons for 10 months (30% of which were new). Throughout the maturation process the wine was aged on fine lees with fortnightly bâttonage.
Appearance
Bright red with purple streaks.
