View Tasting Notes New French oak hogsheads for 22 months sur lie. Bottles Produced: 348 GrabA rich, meaty expression of Rosedale Monastrell SpielEach vintage, when a barrel of outstanding quality reveals itself, we reward our Disciples with an offering. Exclusive to our followers, these rare tributes represent our ultimate expressions of ‘kick arse booze’. Enjoy! ColourInky plum BouquetA complex meaty nose with hints of balsamic PalateA rich, dense palate of grippy tannins support cherry, plum, savoury flavours Food Pairing Spit roasted lamb CellaringDrink up, but also an 8-10 year proposition. VintageA tale of hope and glory. Good rains throughout much of 2011 setup vineyards with good soil and vine health going into the growing season. Warmer and drier conditions through October and November followed, which led to strong and healthy shoot growth, and by December, below average crops were evident due to less and smaller bunches. We were full of hope. January and February were characteristically dry, but continued the trend of below-average temperatures. There was a rain event in early March, however it didn’t cause any disease issues, and actually refreshed many vineyards and allowed them to ripen steadily. Not surprisingly the cool ripening conditions delivered fruit with intense aromas and flavours, and allowed every site to show its full potential and individuality in the resulting wines. 2012 was a privileged vintage. After the mother of all harvests the previous year, we were rewarded with outstanding quality across all varieties, whilst working with old friends (TSW and JP) in our new ‘Home of the Brave’ winery.It will sit among the greatest vintages, perhaps the most glorious! Truly blessed VineyardMichael’s vineyard is just south of Rosedale in the south west of the Barossa – 300m above sea level on red brown clays with shale. VinificationThe fruit was crushed/destemmed and fermented at temperatures ranging from 20- 25°C for 12 days on skins. The ferment was managed by a variety of techniques, including ‘aerative pump overs’ and ‘drain and returns’ which assist in extracting colour, flavour and tannin from the grapes. At the end of fermentation, it was drained/pressed, and transferred to a 4 year old French oak hogshead to undergo MLF. Post MLF, sulphur dioxide was added, and the wine matured sur lie for 15 months. This wine was bottled unfiltered in July 2013.
