Nose
Yielding only gently with an initial hint of distinguished black savoury plums framed by serious oak, it reveals complex and heady floral notes that interplay with rich middle eastern savoury spices and vanilla bean elements. Nutmeg and cinnamon with a hint of smoke interplay complete the picture.
Palate
The palate is immediately mouthwatering with powerful satsuma plum, salted chocolate and licorice. The seamless mid palate with sensual mouth coating tannins offer notes of charcuterie, flint and tea leaf. The expansive finish of long fine grained tannins interweaves hints of vanilla bean, mocha and smoky graphite.
Growing Conditions
Winter provided average rainfall and spring delivered beautiful warm, dry conditions, perfectly setting up vintage 2016. A warm start to summer in January gave good fruit set and crop predictions. An unseasonal single rain event in late January delivered adequate soil moisture for full maturity in the red varieties, both these lots demanding their own unique bottling.
Harvest
The fruit comes from our Trinders (old Block 5) and Chapman Brook (Blocks 23 and 24) vineyards. The typical soils of these vineyards are geologically ancient, free draining red sandy loams with a high percentage of lateritic gravel. The vines are now fully dry grown and, early in the season, manually thinned and leafed to expose the fruit. Picking decisions are made by taste only; picking is by hand in small batches.
Winemaking
The fruit was destemmed and lightly crushed to open fermenters, the Chapman Brook lot receiving 2% viognier for cofermentation elevating aromatics and deepening colour. The ferments proceeded with wild yeasts utilising punchdowns, pump overs and delestage (juice removal then pumped over the top for aeration and extraction purposes). In total, the Trinders lot spent 50 days on skins, whilst the Chapman Brook lot spent 70 days developing optimum balance of tannin, fruit and colour. Light basket pressing followed with malolactic fermentation taking place in French (80%) and American (20%) oak barriques (50% new); the wine was aged on lees (fermentation solids) for 8 months, before being racked off lees and aged a further 13 months then blended and bottled with no fining or filtration.
Appearance
Deep dark plum with purple edges.
Food Pairing
The rich complexity of this wine has the winemakers reaching for a salt crusted Bistecca Fiorentina, the classic Italian thick cut T-Bone steak, dressed with rosemary and served with smashed crispy baby potatoes. A Moroccan lentil and chickpea tagine with fresh spices brings out the exotic nature of this shiraz.
