"It is wonderfully fruited and inviting on the nose showing blackberry, blueberry compote, floral, vanilla and cocoa characters. The palate is impressively fruited and generously textured, delivering terrific fruit power backed by supple tannins, leading to a lingering velvety finish. At its best: now to 2022" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, June 2018

Vibrant ruby red in the glass with a nose that is abundant with sweet berries – mulberries, blue berries and blackberries. These are balanced by savoury spices – fresh nutmeg, white pepper and star anise. This wine opens with a generous selection of sweet berry fruits, ranging from raspberries through to the richer blackberries. Opening up, there are layers of savoury spice and dark chocolate. The French oak adds vanilla to the mix. The tannins are like velvet, leading the wine to a gentle and lingering finish on the palate. Medium term cellaring will only add to the complexity of this wine.

From the summer rainfall & river flooding in the Swan Valley, to the threat of not ripening any of the red grapes in Margaret River, the 2017 vintage will be remembered as one of the most nerve-racking and anxious seasons. It certainly beats all of the last 10 vintages I’ve seen at Sandalford. Overall, the whole growing season, from Spring through to Summer / Autumn was much cooler than average. There were no heat extremes this year. This delayed the
ripening of all varieties by at least 3 -4 weeks compared to normal. At the start of April, all of the red grapes were still on the vine, several blocks still needing a good 4-5 weeks to fully ripen. With April normally the change in season, there were many hours spent watching the weather forecast, waiting for the rain to start. Unbelievably Mother Nature was on our side, April was one of the driest on record. Our latest season ever, with the last of the Cabernet being harvested in early May. The wines produced this season are elegant, showing more flavour complexity and concentration.

The grapes for this wine were machine harvested during the cool of night, in mid-April, four weeks later than normal. After crushing, the must was inoculated with selected yeast strains specifically for Shiraz. The ferments were on skins for one – two weeks with pump overs used over this period for cap management. This allows a gentle extraction of colour and tannins in the wine. Based on taste, the wine was then drained and pressed off skins. After malolactic fermentation the wine was matured for 3 months on 20% new French oak, before being blended, clarified and bottled.

This wine is vegetarian friendly