A very difficult year with less fruit coming on board but Fraser McKinley as ever optimistic about his quarry. I wandered the ruddy earth of Hoffman Dallwitz vineyard with him one steamy afternoon last week; a bit of a revelation in seeing the diversity there and hearing how the pieces of the Sami-Odi puzzle came together in terms of the various plots and parcels that make up this wine. Each bit has a relevance and a story, a connection to Fraser’s past, community and influences. Older vines stunned him for fruit intensity while at Torbreck, way back, the neighbouring plots sourced by the same winery for a new wine compelled Fraser to likewise seek it out later, a viticulturist/vigneron friend from the States asked the tour in a car to stop by another plot and urged Fraser to seek it out, interesting trellising experiments influenced another section for Fraser’s use, an old section that once made E&E in the mix, just because. And so on. An intricate map. A vision of huge detail. Mind bent and revelation occurs. This one comes mostly from the two older parcels of the vineyard that Fraser works with, with splashes of the younger plots in the mix.
Concentration, power, grace. That comes to mind immediately. Feels like it slides but the tannin profile builds in a quiet and assertive way, seamlessly in its weave of dried floral things and char finishes things off. Perfume is all pot pourri, dried cranberry, black olive, old spice cupboard and smoky paprika. Flavours similar, tannin chewy, grippy, well done. Grunty in a way, complex as all get out. An assertive expression, bolder than some years in its intensity and drive, but not without the hallmarks of great Sami Odi wines. 94 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, January 2022,
A regal and brooding rendering of the Hoffmann’s soil from a meagre season plagued by wind and fire.
Assembled from the two oldest sections within the Hoffmann families vineyard; planted on their own roots in 1927 and the oldest vines between 1888 & 1912 with welcome smidgens from the neighbouring blocks planted in 1994, 1995 & 1996.
These 18 Burgundian Pièces were carefully assembled and bottled amidst the spring of 2021 after enduring their 82 week elevage. Bottles were filled without filtration, fining or sparging (the removal of naturally occurring oxygen & C02) and all transfer’s were completed via gravity prior to bottling.
Yields were tiny, ranging between 9 & 17 hectolitres per hectare.
