2022 Shiraz

Cold freighted handpicked grapes sent direct from the Springs Hill vineyard to my winery in the Melbourne suburbs, straight after harvest.

Upon arrival all bunches are hand sorted and processed immediately, using a combination of whole bunches (15%) and destemmed fruit during ferment. So there’s more weight than normal (for me) here - we picked nearly a baume riper than V21 and the results are nothing but positive.

Keeping it simple, 2 wild open ferments, with one being pressed after 15 days (60%), the remainder stayed on skins for 4 weeks (40%) and maturation was all in neutral larger format 500L puncheons. Lightly fined pre-bottling in Feb 2023 using a vegan pea protein, but not filtered. Adds kept to a minimum to ensure the fruit and vineyard shine first and foremost.

Our 2022 Rouleur Shiraz shows complex dark florals, blue fruits and cardomom spice, with iodine and charred meats. The palate is juicy and elevated with fine grainy tannins pushing front to back. Blue fruit carries through with dusty bitter edged mocha and black olive too.

Drink now or tuck away in the cellar for another 8 plus years.

Alc Vol 13.9%  PH 3.61  TA 5.8

A generally milder vintage with lower yields than V21 which experienced bumper crops.

With our grapes coming from the cooler, more elevated Blewitt Springs district of McLaren Vale we harvested quite late in V22 providing slow, even ripening and wines with intense colour, full flavour and supurb phenolic grit.