2017 Dry Red Wine No.2
Medal One
Medal Two
This is a wine that has many personalities and offers layers upon layers of complexity; sweet and savoury all at once. The fragrance is a melting pot of violets, plums, savoury spices and bramble. Moderate in weight; the plum fruits come in all colours dialling up the flavour interest. There is cigar box and cardamom spice lending intrigue. Firm tannins ably support the fruit and texture drive the palate. This one is hard to put in a box, there is so much to love.
Reviews
99 Points – James Halliday, Wine Companion
97 Points – Huon Hooke, therealreview.com
97 Points – Gourmet Traveller Wine, Aug/Sept 2019
96 Points – James Suckling, jamessuckling.com
Best of the Best by Varietal (Shiraz Viognier) – James Halliday, Wine Companion
Gold Medal, Royal Melbourne Wine Awards 2019
Winemaking
Fruit was hand-picked, bunch sorted and destemmed directly to the Yarra Yering half-tonne open-fermenters. As much whole berry as possible is retained to encourage perfume. Some stalks were added back to some of the fermenters in order to contribute structure and aroma. A portion of fermenters had frozen Viognier skins added to the bottom, some with Marsanne skins. The wine was aged for 12 months in French oak barriques, 30% new before blending and bottling.
Technical Data
Varietals: 96% Shiraz, 3% Mataro, 1% Viognier, 1% Marsanne
Region: Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia.
Vines: 1969 plantings of Shiraz and Marsanne, with additional Shiraz planted across the 1990’s, Mataro, Marsanne & Viognier drawn from vines planted from 1984 to 1995.
Cellaring: This fragrant style is approachable as a young wine but with some bottle maturation will evolve into a beautifully complex wine. This blend has a track record thus it will continue to evolve for a further 20+ years under suitable cellaring conditions should you want to cellar it for an extended period.
Alcohol: 13.5%