Pirathon Silver Barossa Valley Shiraz 2018 (Australia)

Description

• French, American & Hungarian oak
• Warm baking spices
• Blackberry
• Ripe tannins

Deep red with violet hues. At once complex, savoury oak flavours of cloves, toast and warm spices intertwined with black fruits and a sarsaparilla like lift. A rich and inviting palate, upfront dark fruits in the blood plum and blackberry mould meld around assertive ripe tannins. With air, savoury characters come to the fore with black olive tapenade, nutmeg and cured Barossa meats. Oak maturation is noticeable giving clear structural and textual elements with a long and expressive flavour profile that will continue to evolve with careful cellaring.

The 2018 Barossa Valley growing season started off well, with winter rainfall around 10% higher than average ensuring soil profiles were full. Spring saw moderate rainfall with a warmer than average October and November allowing vine canopies to grow quickly. Weather conditions allowed for good flowering and fruit set which resulted in good bunch numbers. January and early February were hot and dry in particular night time temperatures which were well above average causing the slowing down of ripening. After February 9 the season changed to an Indian Summer with dry conditions continuing but temperatures much more moderate with only two days reaching 35 C. This led to perfect harvest conditions allowing each block to ripen slowly. Yields were down due to the small berry size, but this led to wines with amazing colour and flavour concentration.

The grapes were harvested from the low-yielding vineyards of traditional family growers in the north-western Barossa districts of Moppa, Belvidere, Koonunga, Ebenezer & Light Pass. Each vineyard adds its own exclusive dimension to Pirathon Shiraz and combined they produce the ultimate blend.

Each vineyard was harvested at optimal maturity across a period from early 2018 to early 2019. Following harvest, each individual lot of grapes was crushed into a separate open top fermenter. During fermentation, hand pump-overs gently extracted colour and flavour from the grapes. After 7-12 days on skins the fermented grapes were pressed with a traditional press. The wines were then filled to new and seasoned American, French and Hungarian oak hogsheads for maturation for eighteen months before each lot of wine was racked from the barrel and carefully blended. The wine was bottled without fining, ensuring the true expression of the vineyards in the bottle.