Nose
The aromatics are nuanced and complex; dark black forest berry fruit, sweet paprika and toasted cinnamon overlay intense smoked charcuterie. Finer nuances of cocoa powder, umami and roasted lamb entwine with leather and tobacco undertones combining with sage and spearmint notes.
Palate
The palate is rich and powerful displaying plum, cranberry and ripe black forest berry fruits of boysenberry and blackcurrant overlaying cured charcuterie and roasted coffee bean. Oak tones of vanilla pod, roasted walnut and mocha interlace with toffee and molasses notes. The tannins are elegant and round with great volume.
Growing Conditions
Replenishing winter rains recharged our vineyard sites leading into calm weather for fruit set that gave well balanced crops on the vines. Mild in nature, 2018 was warmer than 2017 allowing fruit to ripen earlier and very evenly with very low disease pressure, and due to a healthy Marri tree blossoming event, very little bird pressure. An Indian summer, with no heat spike events, allowed for ideal physiological development conditions and the potential for a classic vintage.
Harvest
The fruit comes from our Wallcliffe (48 years old), Trinders (30 years old) and Crossroads (15 years old) vineyards. The typical soils of these vineyards are geologically ancient, free draining sandy loams with a high percentage of lateritic gravel. Meticulously careful hand work on the canopy ensured perfect exposition for the fruit, which in 2018, allowed ultra-fine tannin development, at modest ripeness levels with beautifully balanced acids.
Winemaking
The fruit is destemmed from 70% to 100% (up to 30% whole cluster inclusion) and lightly crushed to a combination of open and closed top fermenters. The ferments proceed with either wild or selected yeasts and operations are decided day by day without recipe to optimize potential and complexity. Post fermentation macerations can be long allowing seamless tannin development before light basket pressing. Malolactic fermentation takes place in French oak barriques (5% new) and the wine is aged on lees (fermentation solids) for 16 months; then blended and bottled with minimal filtration and sulfur addition.
Appearance
Deep dark cherry with intense red edges.
Food Pairing
The savoury complexity of this wine matches with provencale herbs, thus pairing superbly with roasted spring lamb dressed with rosemary, accompanied with baked pumpkin. A richly spiced tofu and vegetable curry served with buttery roti bread complements the dark spice and earth tones of this wine.
