Stephanie explains how she makes this style: “The first thing is to plant the vineyard in the right place: the Alexander Vineyard is beautifully sited and low yielding. Then, at vintage it’s about hand harvesting at optimum (not jammy) fruit ripeness. From there, one quarter of the fruit is whole-bunch foot crushed in open fermenters, pressed, then run into French barriques and left on the yeast lees. This gives a fresher more perfumed but less tannic component. The remainder is fermented and plunged four times a day for a week, then pressed and run into French barriques (40% new) where it remains for 18 months. This component has more weight, colour and extract”.
Stephanie has found that over the past twenty-two years of making shiraz, this approach (often referred to as
‘more European’) gives the most expressive wine. The 2017 vintage wine is testament to this.
Tasting Notes:
Bright dark cherry red.
Rich, spiced plum aromas with a lick of cedar-like oak.
Plush red fruits, dark chocolate and forest with lingering spice and attractive peppery tannins.
Carries its weight well delivering a smart mid-weight shiraz to enjoy immediately or after 10 to 15 years in the cellar.
