Flavours of stewed blackberries, plum, vanilla and spice and a touch of fire created by the 20% alcohol content.
Vintage notes
What began as a side project for our own personal consumption has turned into one of our most sought after wines. This wine is made in the traditional Australian fortified style which was previously known as Vintage Port. Vintage fortified wines are made from a single vintage or year and are aged primarily in bottle instead of cask to retain their colour and fruit flavours.
Each year we select the ripest and most richly flavoured Shiraz grapes for this wine, we allow the fruit to partly ferment and then arrest the fermentation with pure neutral grape spirit known as SVR – Spiritus Vini Rectificatus. The wine is a labor of love—it is hand crafted, hand bottled, hand labelled and hand dipped in wax. The wax seal can be easily removed and it does have a cork so don’t throw out that corkscrew just yet!
Another hot summer and warm autumn ensured great ripening but the cooler nights preserved fruit flavour. The very ripe Shiraz grapes were allowed to partly shrivel and raisin on the vine. After being handpicked the fruit was partially fermented before the addition of pure grape spirit. Using neutral pure spirit instead of brandy spirit allows the rich fruit flavours to take centre stage. 24 months in a mature American oak barrel has integrated the spirit and wine and added a hint of vanilla without overpowering the fruit.
Wonderfully fragrant with citrus blossum and lime juice aromas. Layers of stonefruit, lime cordial and green apple flavours.
Vintage notes
Produced from our estate-grown Riesling grapes planted in 1978. 2020 was a difficult vintage, however, this variety was one of the few that pulled through. Yields in 2020 were heavily reduced by the extended drought and the smoke from bushfires in 2019/20 eliminated most of our crop. However, the levels of smoke taint in this fruit were low and we researched and used some careful winemaking techniques identified by the Australian Wine Research Institute to eliminate any remaining taint. Even so before deciding to bottle the wine we made sure to submit it to a panel of winemakers in the region trained by the AWRI to detect smoke taint and in a blind tasting they were not able to detect any trace of taint. The wine had minimal skin contact and only free run juice was used not pressings. This results in low juice yields and is an expensive exercise but the quality of the juice is outstanding. The resulting wine exceeded all of our expectations and has been our silver lining in 2020.
Intense perfume reminiscent of blackberries, vanilla and lavender. Luxurious and elegant with a silky mouthfeel, flavours of black pepper, stewed plums and cherries and a lingering soft finish.
Vintage notes
A hot season intensified the flavours of our Shiraz grapes and led to concentrated blackberry and stewed plum characters. A cold soak prior to fermentation and the inclusion of 20% whole bunches in the ferment ensured maximum colour and flavour extraction. Cofermented with 3% viognier, also grown at the Vintner’s vineyard. The wine was plunged daily by hand to extract maximum flavour and colour from the skins. The grapes were pressed in our stainless steel basket press to a mixture of old and new French oak barrels and allowed to mature for 14 months.
Intense pepper and vanilla aroma, red cherry, plum and cranberry flavours, lively acidity and a dried herb savouriness on the finish. Grippy tannins provide ageing potential.
Vintage notes
This Syrah is a blend of two different blocks of Shiraz grapes on the property-our grafted Shiraz vines and the vigorously growing vines directly outside the cellar door. The fruit was hand-picked and processed within 12 hours on-site. A 2 day cold soak prior to fermentation and the selection of a cultured yeast ensured maximum colour and flavour extraction. The wine was then gently basket pressed to older French oa barrels and allowed to mature for 16 months.