Lifted aromas of blackberry, blueberry and black pepper supported by spicy dark berry fruits on the palate. The finish is long and framed by elegant, fine grained tannins from eighteen months maturation in a combination of new and older American & French oak barriques and hogsheads.
The grapes were destalked (separating berries from the bunch) and placed uncrushed into small stainless steel open fermenters. A cultured yeast was used to start the fermentation and the tanks were hand plunged spending 7 days on skins at 22 - 28° C. The skins were gently pressed in the JLB Vaslin Bucher press giving a soft tannin structure to the wine.
Finally the wine was left on its lees to give texture and mid–palate weight along with 18 months barrel maturation in a mixture of French and American oak.
Review by: Campbell Mattinson, 2010 Big Red Wine Book
Review by: Tony Keys, The Key Review
Review by: James Halliday, Australian Wine Companion 2011
Review by: AWC Vienna 2010