PRE - VINTAGE
RAINFALL: Winter (average) | Spring (above average).
TEMPERATURE: Warm Spring and early Summer | No extreme heat.
UPSHOT: Consistent flowering and fruit set | Healthy canopy
VINTAGE
RAINFALL: Summer (below average) | Autumn (light).
TEMPERATURE: Days (cool - below average) | Nights (cool).
UPSHOT: Mild, even consistent ripening conditions | Gradual & dense flavour accumulation | High natural acid.
SEPPELTSFIELD VINEYARD
BLOCK: H Block.
VINEYARD: Deep red clay loam | Western bank of Greenock Creek | Old Clone | Low topographical position | Slight Easterly aspect | East-West oriented rows.
UPSHOT: Reduced natural vine vigour | Intense & vibrant.
HARVEST: 19th & 29th March 2022
WINEMAKING
FERMENTATION: De-stemmed | Skin maceration for 12 days | Basket Pressed | 65% New French Oak | Natural malolactic fermentation | 22 months maturation.
TECH ANALYSIS: Alcohol 15.0% | pH: 3.53 | Acid: 6.7g/L | RS <1.0g/L
CELLARING: DRINK NOW TO 2032+
PROFI LE: Blackberry | Dark chocolate | Fennel flower Cranberry | Almond
TEXTURE: Concentrated structure | Rich & Powerful | Depth & dark Aromatics
97 POINTS, REAL REVIEW
Ink black core into a deeply rich ruby colour at the rim. Blueberry, blackcurrant, cedar shavings and crushed rosemary leaf aromatics. An enormous wine that speaks of density and power but with great control. The core is a crescendo of ripe black and blue fruits, layered over that we see rosemary, mint, cedar wood and anise notes. As time goes on there is a deeper, meaty undertone. Tannins are prodigious in intensity yet beautifully polished in texture, carrying the huge weight effortlessly to an end that seems almost infinite in length. A wow wine that speaks of why this blend is often known as the great Australian red - Stuart Knox
96 POINTS, HALLIDAY WINE COMPANION
An outstanding shiraz cabernet blend from H Block on the banks of Greenock Creek in Seppeltsfield. Deeply coloured with fruit concentration to match. Satsuma plum, black cherry and dried cranberry fruits are cut with hints of baking spices, earth, olive tapenade, nutty oak, cassis, panforte and blackstrap licorice. Velvety and long with a classic western Barossa ferrous-edged power train, fine-grained tannins and a real sense that this will cellar very well indeed. A cracking release - Dave Brookes
