Our affinity for working with old vine Barossa Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvédre began with John’s time at Penfolds, and continues with this wine - the first to be released by John Duval Wines’ from our inaugural vintage in 2003. The aim of Plexus is to express a wide spectrum of fruit flavours, whilst ensuring seamless integration of the contrasting characters of the three varietals. Shiraz provides rich dark fruits and mid palate weight, whilst Grenache delivers a bright flavour spectrum of red fruits and spiced notes. Old vine Mourvèdre is integral to the blend, ensuring a good firm backbone of savoury tannin and a long finish.

This was a vintage where quality has triumphed over quantity, with spring frosts and dry conditions combining for greatly reduced yields across the Barossa. Volumes were well down on average, some vineyards more than 50% down, particularly in Eden Valley. However, the fruit we did (very gratefully) receive showed exceptional depth of colour, vibrant yet concentrated fruit with plenty of structure on the palate. 2019 will be remembered as a year for texture, structure and richness. The Shiraz harvest kicked off on 25 February with components sourced from old vineyards at Krondorf, Marananga and Ebenezer, Grenache was sourced from vineyards at Tanunda and Ebenezer, and Mourvèdre from Light Pass and Ebenezer. The parcels of fruit were fermented separately with a submerged cap in small open stainless-steel fermenters. A portion of the Grenache ferment included whole bunches to accentuate the savoury aspects of the variety. The wines were barrel maturated for 15 months, with 15% in new fine grain French oak hogsheads and the balance in older seasoned hogsheads. The final blend assemblage comprised

Shiraz (45%), Grenache (32%) and Mourvèdre (23%).