Winemaker:
Matt Thomson, Hamish Clark and Kyle Thompson

Colour:
Dense ruby red.

Aroma:
A powerful and aromatic nose with layers of wild flowers, perfumed violets, blackcurrants, cocoa, vanilla and dark chocolate, along with a hint of freshly roasted coffee beans and dried clay.

Palate:
Concentrated flavours of black cherry, blackcurrant, Kalamata olive, and perfumed wild flowers. An elegant palate with a structure reminiscent of finely powdered cocoa or dense dark chocolate. The finish is long incorporating freshly roasted coffee beans, toasty oak and spice.

Ageing potential:
This wine is drinking beautifully now or with careful cellaring will mature into a more complex wine that can be enjoyed for the next 8 to 10 years or beyond.

Winemaking:
The fruit was harvested when it had reached full physiological ripeness and maximum flavour maturity. At the winery the fruit was held cold for five days prior to fermentation to help extract maximum flavour and to enhance colour stability. 27 per cent whole cluster bunches were added to the fermentation to add a stems component and another layer of complexity. Specially selected cultured yeast were used to carry out the primary alcoholic fermentation, during which the fermenting must was hand plunged up to six times daily at the peak of fermentation. At dryness the wine was pressed, then racked off gross lees to a mixture of 32 per cent new French oak and older seasoned 225 litre oak barriques. During maturation the barrels were regularly tasted until the right balance was achieved (ten months). During this time in oak, the young wine completed malolactic fermentation. The wine was then carefully extracted from oak, blended and prepared for bottling.

Viticulture:
Sourced from a single vineyard in the Delta region within the Southern Valleys sub-region. A naturally low cropping vineyard that produces tight bunches with small berries which intensifies the wines flavour and concentration. This wine contains clones 115 and a whole cluster component of 27 per cent. The vineyard was harvested at the optimum ripeness and flavour profile.

Analysis:
Alcohol: 13 % v/v, Titratable Acidity: 5.9g/litre, pH: 3.61.

Food match:
Well matched with red meat dishes such as fillet steak and seasonal vegetables