• French oak
• Dark cherry & berries
• Mocha & oak spice
• Delicate tannins

"This is filled with delicious flavours, showing blackberry, sweet cherry, fragrant spice and roasted nut characters, combined with fleshy texture and plush mouthfeel within a solid frame of fine-grained tannins. Upfront and highly enjoyable. At its best: now to 2033" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Jun 2020

Oozing with cherry and dark berry fruits, this spicy McLaren Vale Shiraz is layered with mocha, oak spice and licorice with finely integrated oak. Showing great depth and generosity, the palate is elegant and well defined. The tannins delicately wrap the fruit and guide it along the palate, resulting in a wine of exceptional length and character. Ready to drink now or age for 5+ years.

Truly representative of the Penny's Hill McLaren Vale terroir, 'Cracking Black' pays homage to the Bay of Biscay soils which contribute to the generosity and richness of the mighty Shiraz wines from the region.

Sourced from our estate Malpas Road Vineyard, planted in 1991 on land which was originally referred to as ‘Bay of Biscay’. This is an obvious reference to the relatively infertile cracking, grey-black soil upon which our hand-tended Shiraz patch does its work. The fissures which occur as the black soil cracks apart, sever surplus root structure; a process which naturally lessens vigour and enhances ultimate grape quality. Other fruit parcels were sourced from the slightly higher elevated vines of the Penny’s Hill Vineyard. Detailed canopy management, judicious irrigation and passionate viticultural practices in both these high class vineyards contribute to this outstanding Shiraz.

To best reflect the variation in terroir across our vineyard sites, each Shiraz parcel was harvested, fermented and matured separately. Harvest commenced on the 20th February and the last parcel was picked on the 14th March. After 7- 10 days on skins in open or static fermenters, wines were pressed and filled immediately to the finest French oak barrels. Each parcel was matured for 16 months prior to barrel selection and blending. The final blend consisted of 15% new French oak barrels and wine was bottled in December 2019.