Nose
The result is smooth and elegant
with a perfumed floral bouquet.
Palate
A juicy medium bodied palate that perfectly
pairs satsuma plums with bright red fruits, a lingering smoky savouriness and a myriad
of spices.
Growing Conditions
After a relatively warm start to the season this year’s harvest began on February 9th, so roughly
around the same time as the previous year. Full flavour development, however, occurred at
lower Baumés than in previous years and with acid levels still very high- both factors that very
much suit the style of wine we make. After all the white varieties had been picked over the
course of just 6 days, the weather turned and became noticeably cooler, which meant a fairly
long break before the reds were fully ripe and ready to be harvested. This drawn out cooler
ripening period resulted in great flavour and tanning development at very low Baumés across
all red varieties. At 20 years of age our old Cabernet vines are now showing noticeably less
vigour than they have in the past, but the quality of the fruit we’ve been getting off them has
been truly impressive. In the winery Chris has therefore been working hard on fine-tuning his
selection of barrels for what we expect will be remembered as an exceptional red wine vintage,
even by the consistently high standards we have become used to here in Margaret River.
Winemaking
Made to reflect all the characteristics of a true cool climate style, our Syrah is not a big
bold wine. Its style is aromatic, rather layered and refined, finesse and elegance taking
precedence over power and weight. The vines are planted in well drained loam over
gravel, and a finely tuned balance between rich fruit flavours and spice and peppery
notes is achieved through meticulous attention to detail with regards to pruning and
canopy management. Handpicked at moderate Baumes, when both fruit and tannins
have reached optimum ripeness, we have taken a very hands-off approach in the
winemaking process. The aim was to let the fruit speak for itself rather than heavily
working the wine in the winery. A small amount of our Syrah was co-fermented with a
tiny proportion of Viognier, handpicked from the Eastern most point of our Home block.
The remaining Syrah was fermented with a proportion of whole bunches, the wine was
carefully pressed off using our hand-operated basket press, and maturation occurred in
French oak hogsheads over a period of 12 months.
