Whistler Wines Estate Barossa Valley Merlot 2014

Grown on our Estate at Whistler Wines, Seppeltsfield Road, Marananga, Barossa Valley. Clone D3V14 planted in 1997 on dark loam and biscay soils, 100m east of our Cellar Door building. 

Harvested in two separate picks, this wine was fermented wild on skins for 7 days before it was basket pressed and put to oak. 20% new American oak hogsheads and 80% second and third use French and American hogsheads were used to retain the fruit character before blending and bottling after 20 months in oak. This wine was bottled with no fining and no filtration. 

Penfolds Bin 389 South Australia Cabernet Shiraz 2015

Bin 389 is often referred to as ‘Baby Grange’, in part because components of the wine are matured in the same barrels that held the previous vintage of Grange. First made in 1960, by the legendary Max Schubert, this was the wine that helped to forge Penfolds solid reputation with red wine drinkers combining the structure of Cabernet Sauvignon with the richness of Shiraz. Bin 389 also exemplifies the judicious balance of fruit and oak.

After a dry South Australian winter reminiscent of 2006, vines were in water deficit at the beginning of spring and became accustomed to dry conditions quite early. Early budburst was noticeable across many regions and windy conditions during flowering were, in some regions, responsible for variable fruit set and lower than average yields come vintage. Dry spring conditions explained canopy growth and low yields, becoming typical of the 2013 growing season. Warm days were dispersed throughout October, November and in early January, contributing to an early start to the 2013 harvest and a short, condensed vintage. Dry and warm conditions, coupled with lower than average yields resulted in fruit showing strong, structural tannins and wines of great intensity and encouraging flavour.

Grape Variety: 51% Cabernet, 49% Shiraz

The Colonial Estate Exile Barossa Valley Shiraz 2015

The bulk of the vines are dry grown old vines, which are pruned severely and receive two runs of green harvesting finally producing one tonne to two tonnes per acre. Exile grapes are then hand picked and the grapes sorted. The wine is fermented in vats after extreme cold maceration. The wines have their malolactic in new French oak, and are thereafter in the same oak for 24 months prior to bottling with minimal filtration and then further aging in bottle.

Gnadenfrei Estate St Michaels Barossa Valley Shiraz 2016

Despite well below average rainfall and warm conditions during the growing season, our vines produced another outstanding vintage. Heavy rainfall in late January followed by ongoing mild days and cool nights allowed ideal ripening conditions. The fruit then matured with an early harvest. The resultant 2016 wines are outstanding and feature lifted pure red fruit characteristics, savoury tannins, great depth of flavour and sheer colour intensity. Select Old Vine Barossa Shiraz sourced from vines aged 50-80 years were used in this wine. Traditional winemaking techniques were employed and the fruit was handled in a gentle hands off approach to ensure the vineyard remained the hero. This Shiraz was matured for 16 months in 1 and 2 year old oak hogshead barrels (75% French 15% American). 

Upon release allow the wine to breathe for at least a couple of hours, this wine is built to last and should drink well for the next 10-15 years.

The Colonial Estate Exile Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2016

Sourced from a small block in the Seppeltsfield region of the Barossa. The vines that make up Exile were pruned severely and as a result of this and minimal water they produce extremely small yields. Exile grapes are all hand picked and the grapes are selected in individual batches by winemaker and vigneron. The grapes are harvested then transported to the winery where they are de-stemmed and crushed individually to small static fermenters. Fermentation was brought on by the use of select yeast strains and the temperatures peaked at 28 degrees before chilling back to 20 degrees for the completion of fermentation. The fermenters were pumped over 3 times daily to ensure the perfect amount of colour and tannin was extracted from the skins. A small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon was allowed to stay on skins for a week of additional maceration after the ferments were complete. The batches were then pressed into new French barrels where they under went malolatic fermentation and are then aged for 18 months before final barrel selection, blending and bottled with minimal filtration.

Western Barossa Wines Barossa Valley GSM 2016

We hand picked a small section of Grenache from Block 4 rows 7-23, Shiraz from block 5 rows 1-12 and block 8 rows 3-9 to created a style of wine guided by the fruit initially. We wanted a wine driven by fruit yet surrounded in a bed of spicy flavours and tannin therefore selected these small sections as the fruit produced dark berry flavours with wonderful spice characters which would infiltrate not be overwhelmed by second and third use oak. The fruit was transferred to the winery and the fruit was combined together to ensure it worked harmoniously through the entire winemaking process; macerated for an extended period with seeds and stems to allow us to give a vision of the vineyard in the final wine. The wine was left in this state for 30 days and hand plunged which ensured we extracted all the colour, aromas and tannin we could. Basket pressed into barrel again allowed us to continue the hands off method and ensure fruit purity was key again this ensures longevity. The wine was not topped during its 256 days it spent in barrel then finally it received minimal filtration and fining. This wine illustrates just how beautiful a wine from the warm Wild West can be, in a word moreish.

A wine, which will appear beautifully, round and lavish if drunk upon release whilst the oak tannins provide a backbone, which will ensure drinking over the next decade will not be a problem.

Fu Barossa Valley Shiraz 2010

This wine is sourced from a single old vine vineyard from what we consider one of the Barossa Valley’s finest growers. 2010 was one of the standout vintages of the last decade. An ideal vintage, which gave us the benefit of perfectly, ripened fruit. The smooth flow of vintage allowed us to select specific fruit parcels and allowed us to define the wine as much in the vineyard as the winery. These grapes are brought into the winery, and crushed into old vats where the fermentation is initiated by “wild” yeasts found on the grape skins. Careful extraction and short post fermentation maceration is followed by soft pressing. The wine is transferred into brand new oak barrels where the malolactic fermentation is completed before racking and maturation for 36 months in barrels. A careful assemblage and barrel selection is followed by minimal filtration and bottling.

A wine which will benefit immensely with time in the cellar to settle and develop. It will have a great lifespan of around 15 years plus.