Winery & Vintage Info
Produced from grapes grown at Pipers Brook and at Strathlynn on the west bank of the Tamar River, 70km away. Northeast sites, close to Bass Strait, are subject to strong maritime influences. Hillside slopes in the Tamar Valley offer vines some protection from prevailing westerly winds, promoting warm, settled and relatively dry growing conditions. Sites around Pipers Brook feature Ferrosol (volcanic) soils, while those in the Tamar Valley are Vertosol (black cracking clay) soils. Both soil types have excellent water-holding capacity, offering a steady supply of moisture and nourishment to the vines throughout the growing season. Pioneering clonal selection and mass selection sites of vines ageing up to 40 years consistently provides concentration and depth of character. Vines are grown on Vertical Shoot Positioned (VSP) trellises, which help to expose bunches to the sun, thus achieving full ripeness with well-balanced flavours and fine, ripe tannins. All fruit is picked and sorted by hand.
Whole bunches were carefully de-stemmed, with berries remaining intact. Fermentation via a combination of wild and inoculated yeast took place in small open vats, with 10% whole bunch included in the ferment. A combination of hand plunging and pumping over was employed throughout ferment. The resulting wine was gently pressed in a state of the art basket press and aged on lees in French oak barrels in our cool underground cellars for 9 months. Bottled under screw cap to preserve intensely perfumed aromatics and expressive fruit.
