Nose
We recommend decanting this wine to reveal an olfactory wave of glazed cherries, red currants, violets and mulberries, woven into a tapestry of fine French oak tones of cedar, freshly roasted coffee and bay.
Palate
Utterly fine tannin on the entry sets the stage for a journey into elegance, subtlety and texture and poise. A finish of red fruits, both flavours and textures, brought to yield by an endless line of red cherry acidity.
Growing Conditions
Margaret River experienced moderate to high rainfall throughout Winter, followed by a moderate Spring and even Summer temperatures with minimal rainfall, leading to healthy flowering and fruit set and a perfect ripening season. Another challenging year in terms of bird pressure, owing to a lack of marri blossom in surrounding bushland; which was kept under control with well-timed bird netting. Quality was high overall, with whites and reds displaying super-fine structure, impressive elegance and minerality. Crop yields were low, but the fruit performed beautifully, making this a vintage to be valued.
Winemaking
Fruit from a single block on the estate was harvested and berries crushed (just split) and sent to a fermentor. A regime of cool fermentation on skins for 14 days with multiple, yet gentle daily pump overs was employed in order to extract every morsel of luxury tannin and flavour from each berry. When peak concentration was achieved the wine was separated from the skins directly to a special selection of the finest French Oak barriques, 58% of which were new, where the wine was matured in oak for 18 months.
