Winery & Vintage Info
Almost all the wines created by Scarpantoni Wines have been made from vineyards planted by the Scarpantoni family over the past 50 year or so, with only a couple of exceptions to the rule.
Their Block 3 Shiraz is the best-known exception to the rule, being planted in the early 1940’s before Domenico & Paula Scarpantoni arrived in Australia (the exact year of planting is not known). Since 1980, a single vineyard Block 3 labelled Shiraz has been made at the winery from the gnarled old Block 3 vines running alongside the winery on a patch of deep sandy soil.
The resulting Block 3 Shiraz is considered something of a benchmark style for the region, winning both the Great Australian Shiraz Challenge and Winestate Magazine’s Shiraz of the Year in 2008 amongst other accolades over the three decades since the first vintage.
Picked at optimum ripeness, theShiraz fruit destined for the ‘Block 3’ is picked in the cool hours of the morning. Crushed and de-stemmed, each parcel is fermented in specially designed ‘air’ fermenters until dry. Malolactic fermentation proceeds post pressing and continues in the barrel during the long 22-month maturation process. The wine remains in American Oak Hogshead barrels (40% new oak) until bottling.
