Greenock Creek Alices Shiraz 2021 (Barossa Valley)

The vines were planted in 1997 on ancient slaty siltstone mixed with dark brown clays and loam. The siltstone seems to show up in the wine as mid-palate spiciness and savoury tannins. The brown clay lends the wine its chocolate/mocha spectrum with fruit that tends towards raspberry and redcurrant, which makes for a particularly food-friendly Shiraz.

The long rows in this vineyard give plush, voluptuous fruit. We’ve cut back the vines here and moved to rod and spur pruning, which we find gives us more freshness. We only used fruit from the long rows in 2021. The short rows tend to be more savoury and linear and contribute coffee and mocha notes. These vines can produce excellent grapes but Greenock Creek Vineyard are gearing their viticulture towards balancing those savoury tendencies with clearer fruit expression.

The 2021 matured in American oak, 15% of which was new.