• Rich ripe berries
• Baking spices
• Full bodied
• French oak

A deep red with purple hues in the glass, showing aromas of dark berry fruits and fragrant floral notes with hints of peppercorn, redskins and subtle mocha chocolate. This is a full bodied red, offering ample depth with plenty of inky ripe forest fruits; blackberries, redcurrants and spice. The moreish, jubey fruit and approachable tannins combine to produce a generous wine with a supple structure and a wonderful persistence of flavour.

Perfectly approachable in its youth, this wine will cellar comfortably for several years from vintage date.

The growing season began with late budburst after a relatively cold, wet winter. The mild spring which followed ensured that there was good flowering and fruit set, in fact some yields needed to be addressed with crop thinning. Fine, mild conditions prevailed during summer, which ended up being one of the coolest growing seasons in recent years. Harvest commenced late, at the end of February, with abundant Marri blossom keeping bird pressure very low whilst the whites were harvested. March was relatively wet with a significant rain event after most of the white fruit had been picked. Fortunately, the April that followed was glorious (the driest April since 1982 in fact) with fine weather and no heat extremes experienced at all. The extended ripening period allowing the reds to attain full physiological maturity and tannin ripeness with a wonderful sense of finesse. Fruit for this blend was entirely Estate grown on the Boodjidup and Stevens Road vineyards in the Wallcliffe sub-region of Margaret River.

The fruit was destemmed and then crushed with open rollers to introduce whole berries into the ferment. The core components were fermented in static fermenters at 26°C for 6 days. After fermentation and pressing, the various batches underwent MLF and 14 months maturation in a combination of fine French oak barriques (20% new) and large format oak vessels on lees (15%), prior to assembling the blend and bottling.