The 2015 growing season in McLaren Vale was notable for extended periods where no rain fell. The McLaren Vale Wine Region experienced an average winter rainfall, but no significant rain fell during August. Temperatures in late August were notably cold overnight delaying budburst. It continued to be very dry across our district through September, October and November with the lowest spring rainfall in the last 20 years. This led to very low disease pressure, but also reduced the natural vigour of the vines resulting in small canopies. Mild calm weather during flowering resulted in good berry set and the lack of rainfall meant careful irrigation was required. Despite hot days through the first week of January, cooler than normal conditions from the second week onwards resulted in the coolest January days experienced across the state since 1992. As harvest began daytime temperatures were 2 to 3 °C warmer than average, greatly compressing the picking window for optimal flavour ripeness. Yields for 2015 were generally average or below average.

Vineyards for 2015 included the certified organic Warboys Vineyard surrounding cellar door, and the neighbouring Jones block further up the hill. The nearby Swann vineyard in Blewitt Springs, grown on ancient sand dunes, also provided parcels of stunning quality, as did the Cameron block with its cracking black Biscay clays just north of the township of Willunga. Each of these single vineyard parcels is exclusively hand-picked.

Hand sorted in our Vintage House small batch winery, each parcel is treated in a manner which we believe will enhance the inherent character of the individual vineyard. The Swann fruit was destemmed with the berries left whole. Here the grapes undergo a gentle fermentation, with our aim to preserve the pure blackcurrant and dark chocolate characters produced by this vineyard. The fruit from the old vines on the Cameron block was destemmed and crushed into open top oak puncheon barrels and fermented until dry. The oak vessel adds luscious velvety tannins to the juicy rich fruit flavours from these venerable vines.

By comparison, the Warboys Vineyard fruit from the deep loamy soils of our grandfather vines was fermented with a small percentage of whole bunches placed in the bottom of the tank, with destemmed fruit crushed over the top. This adds structure and body to the resulting wine, and is a technique we also used with the fruit from the Jones block. All the separate wines were basket pressed into French oak puncheons and then cosseted in our cool cellars for 12 months. Then in early 2016 we selected only the best barrels, blending these together and returning to oak to create the final blend. Thus the complex flavours of each of the vineyards mingle and bind together to produce a wine we believe shows the best of classic McLaren Vale Shiraz.