Nose
Rich dark fruits, black pepper, ripe raspberries and dark chocolate.
Palate
These old Shiraz vines drive the style with great richness and length of flavour coupled with fragrance and spice. The Cabernet Sauvignon component contributes a layer of structure and texture, perfectly integrated to produce this rare and memorable blend.
Harvest
Another fortunate vintage for the Margaret River Region, especially when compared to what some other regions in parts of Australia had to endure, highlights the compatibility of the region to growing and making some of the world’s finest table wines.
A very early start and finish to the vintage due to a dry and warm spring which warmed the soil and promoted early and healthy vine growth. It was also an exceptional year for the flowering of the native Marri trees which kept the birds distracted from the ripening fruit.
The white harvest was over quick with the warm temperatures in early March then moderating which slowed ripening in the reds and allowed flavour to intensify and tannins to soften. By the end of March to early April, most of the region had finished the Cabernet Sauvignon harvest, the latest ripening varietal in the region.
Winemaking
Our ethos when making our Single Vineyard wines is to use a minimalistic, hands-off winemaking approach to present fruit and therefore vineyard and varietal character at the forefront of each wine.
The Shiraz fruit was handpicked cool in the early morning so the fruit could be fermented as whole bunches. Each small, 10kg bucket of fruit was tipped into the fermenter and after being kept cool at 10C for 3 days the bunches started wild fermentation. Gentle plunging of the must was then done over 10 days to cool the ferment whilst extracting colour and the fine, ripe skin and stalk tannins to achieve the structure and style of the wine.
The Cabernet fruit was handpicked but destemmed to ensure the ferment consisted purely of berries. Fermentation started immediately and after 5 days of gentle plunging and extraction, the free-run wine was added to the Shiraz ferment (which was still on skins) with the Cabernet skins kept separate to blend into another wine.
Following another two days, the decision was made to press the ferment off skins, with the pressing’s component blended back into the free run to give the ideal body and structure to the final blend.
The wine went straight into old French oak puncheons (500L barrels) to mature for 14 months. These larger puncheon barrels ensure perfume and freshness is retained whilst preserving the silky and refined palate along with textural complexity – a difficult goal to achieve in red winemaking. The result is a rarely seen wine style out of Margaret River of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon from some of the oldest vines in the region on the Redbrook Vineyard.
Appearance
Deepest crimson with purple hues.
Food Pairing
Rosemary roast lamb with perfectly crisp potatoes.
