Sandalford Margaret River Shiraz 2018 (Australia)

Description

• French oak
• Mulberries
• Savory spices
• Velvet tannins

Classic dark ruby red. Up front, this wine is full of rich dark berries and savoury spices. It opens up to show dark cherries, blueberries and mulberries with spice notes of star anise and red pepper. As per the nose, the berries and savoury spices are abundant. Underlying, there’s also rhubarb and mocha notes as the wine evolves all adding to the many layers within this wine. The French oak is seamlessly integrated and adds another layer of velvety soft tannins. This is an elegant style of Shiraz, and is a wine that will continually open up and evolve in the glass. Medium term cellaring will only add to the wine’s complexity.

The 2018 vintage was a return to the fantastic conditions that Margaret River is known for. With a wet start to the season in winter and early spring providing a good base of ground water for the vines. November was very dry, perfectly timed with the vines going through flowering and fruit set. After rainfall in both December and mid-January, the season changed and they saw an extended dry and warm period through to the end of picking in mid-April. The maximum temperatures were consistent with long term average and the sea breeze providing the essential cool nights that Margaret River is known for. All fruit this season is of exceptional quality and showing great varietal characters.

The grapes were machine harvested during the cool of night in mid-March. After crushing the must was inoculated with selected strains of yeast. The ferments were on skins for around 10 days with pump overs used twice daily during this period to ensure optimum extraction of colour, flavour and tannins. Based on taste, the wine was then drained and pressed. After malolactic fermentation the wine was matured for 3 months on 25% new French oak, before blending and bottling.