View Tasting Notes New French oak barrique for 18 months sur lie. Bottles Produced: 252 GrabThe ultimate ode to the ‘luncheon claret’ – early picked Willunga Cabernet Sauvignon. 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! ColourDark Plum B o u q u e t Red fruit flavours with hints of green beans and tobacco leaf Palate Red fruits tightly wound on an elegant core of fine, firm tannins Cellaring Drink up, but also a 15+ year proposition Vintage A condensed vintage with full fat flavour! A warmer than usual spring led to an early, yet even flowering and fruit set. Together with a dry season, this led to an early start to vintage despite mild conditions and welcome rainfall in January. With harvest progressing quickly, it was clear that yields were variable, but the wines showed full flavours. Low yielding BV Shiraz was rich, ‘modern classical’ and MV Cab was varietal and structured (reminiscent of 2005). Yields were up in Garnacha, Monastrell, EV Shiraz and Adelaide Hills, and thus looked less primary, more savoury, with good acid (reminiscent of 2002). So the upshot is we’ve almost got two vintages in one, with some diverse, full flavoured wines. Lap it up! Vineyard Joch’s vineyard is in the Willunga foothills in the south of the McLaren Vale - 130m above sea level on deep alluvial stony clay loam. Vinification The fruit was crushed/destemmed and fermented at temperatures ranging from 20- 25°C for 10 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 new French oak barrique to undergo MLF. Post MLF, sulphur dioxide was added, and the wine matured sur lie for 18 months. This wine was bottled unfiltered in October 2016.
