2016 House Block Shiraz

Varieties

Shiraz

Vintage

2016

Country

Australia

Region

McLaren Vale

Alcohol

14.5%

Bottle size

750 mL

Drinking Window

2018 - 2040

Body

full

Winemaking Notes

Gentle and patient winemaking is preferred to ensure that the wine expresses the unique site characters. The hand harvested grapes were gently crushed, fermented in an open fermenter and hand plunged to facilitate subtle tannin extraction.

After 11 days on skins the fermenter was basket pressed and the free run and pressing fractions were combined. The wine was then aged for 20 months in 100% French oak. The proportion of new oak was kept low to encourage the continued expression of the characters that are exclusive to the vineyard site. There were no additions of any fining agents or tannins and the wine was not filtered prior to bottling.

Growing Conditions

The 2015/16 growing season had below average rainfall, with late winter and spring being particularly dry. Mean average temperatures were consistently above average from Oct 15 to Feb 16. A timely rainfall event in early Feb resulted refreshed the vines and slowed sugar accumulation as they entered the final stages of ripening resulting in vibrant varietal fruit flavours.