Accolades and Awards

GOLD - Winewise 2015

From the Winery

From McLaren Vale region of South Australia, about 40 minutes south of Adelaide. We source our fruit from an array of vineyards, some of which are up to 96 years old, reflecting the character of the area and the varieties from which they are made. The wine is made by Mike Farmilo with Tim James consulting.

The fruit for this wine comes from an array of vineyards with differing vine ages, altitudes and soil structures. This imparts a complexity to the wine and ensures that we attain the lovely spectrum of Grenache characters synonymous with McLaren Vale. Sellicks Hill vineyard with its loam over limestone has spicier, savoury Grenache characters, whereas the Yeenunga and Zerella vineyards which are in the Seaview sub regions are more along the traditional cherry, strawberry lines with richer bolder tannins. A hint of the Trott vineyard Grenache from Blewitt Springs is added to bring a delicate floral lift to the mix. Both the Zerella and Trott vineyards are bush vines and are 60 and 80 year old vines. The climate of McLaren Vale is often compared to that of the Mediterranean, warm sunny days, with sea breeze influences from the nearby Gulf of St Vincent. These warm days in union with the cooling maritime evening changes are perfect for ripening the grapes whilst maintaining a crisp, clean acid structure.

Careful consideration is taken to pick this variety at the optimal time to ensure that the grapes don’t get too overripe and produce sweet confectionary characters. Our aim is for the wine to be in the more savoury spicy realm with pure fruit characters. Open fermenters are used in conjunction with warm ferment temperatures and regular pump-overs and plunging to ensure optimum extraction at the beginning of ferment; this regime is lessened towards the end of ferment to maintain the delicate aromatics of the Grenache grape. Timely pressing, only using the best press fractions ensured good quality of flavour and the favourable drying, sandy tannin structure. The wine is matured in a combination of older French oak, to add complexity and mid palate richness, but not to dominate the varietal characters, and stainless steel tank to maintain a portion of pure varietal character. It’s then blended and bottled under screwcap to maintain freshness and ensure longevity.