2024 McLaren Vale Shiraz

TASTING NOTE Lifted blueberry and mulberry fruit aromas combine with warm toasted spice, hints of lavender and red licorice. Flavours of blue and dark berry fruit, with some complexing dried herb and floral flavours and background dark chocolate. With a nice line of bright acidity, the wine is soft and round with supple silky tannins and lingering flavours. VINTAGE SUMMARY The season started with a dry winter and start to spring- warm days and quite cool nights meant a slow start to shoot growth, and smaller crops in some early flowering varieties, but in mid- November the weather pattern changed to give us a lot of rain and some humidity. This helped with shoot growth and to improve crop levels, but was challenging in the vineyards to keep disease under control. In early January the rain stopped thankfully, and we had dry conditions right the way through harvest, so disease was much less of an issue than it could have been. A few short heat waves provided some challenges, however the wine quality is very good. VINEYARD Sourced partially from the Willunga 100 Estate Blind Spot Vineyard site in Blewitt Springs on deep sandy soil- with a Northern aspect at about 150m above sea level. The remainder is from two different vineyard sites in McLaren Flat, both on loam soil. All three sites are in cooler elevated locations within the McLaren Vale region. All three vineyards are trellised and spur pruned. WINEMAKING Each parcel was harvested and fermented separately in open fermenters for between 7 and 10 days before being gently pressed. The wines were matured for 18 months in a combination of French puncheons (500L) and hogsheads (300L) before being carefully blended prior to bottling. The percentage of new oak was about 10%, and the remainder a mixture of ages. FOOD PAIRING Slow cooked lamb shanks, Ratatouille, or burgers on the grill. WINEMAKER Renae Hirsch VARIETY: 100% Shiraz REGION: McLaren Vale, South Australia SOIL: Deep Maslin sands and loam soils. ALCOHOL: 14.0% TA: 6.8 g/L pH: 3.45 Awards & Reviews: Brand New Release