20 Gold Medals

The luscious elegance of the Clare Valley fruit marries superbly with the slightly peppery fruit from McLaren Vale.

Dry/Sweet
dry
semi sweet
sweet
wine body
light
medium
full
Oak
none
some
plenty
grape varieties

Shiraz

blend or single variety

Single Variety

region

Clare Valley 55% / McLaren Vale 45%

colour

At release, the wine has a deep crimson red colour to the centre with a vibrant purple hue to the edges.

nose

There are lifted aromas of red berry and cherry fruit along with subtle black olive and spice.

palate

This is a luscious wine with layers of flavours of dark berry fruit, ripe cherries and plum along with attractive oak characters of roasted coffee beans and spice. Overall, the wine is well balanced with well-integrated tannins providing the palate with firm structure and persistent length.

oak maturation

The wine was matured in water-bent American oak barrels (30% 1 year old, and 70% 2-3 year old) for 10 - 12 months before being fined, filtered & bottled

vintage conditions

In the Clare Valley, the growing season saw average autumn and winter rainfalls on the Taylor family estate vineyards. Although spring was relatively dry, the vine vigour was still good due to the presence of subsurface moisture from the regular winter rain events and in addition the relatively calm conditions during the spring period reduced the evapotranspiration of the vines. Summer started dry and warm but not overly hot although from mid-January to mid-February this changed with very hot conditions prevailing until the 14th February when a downpour occurred, slowing the ripening of grapes considerably allowing for full flavour development. For McLaren Vale summer conditions were significantly warmer than average with two heat waves through January and one in February tested the limits of grapevine tolerance. Equally damaging were high winds which reduced berry set, stripped leaves and reduced the size of canopies and increased the level of fruit exposure. This was followed by some very hot days. Then relief appeared in the form of rain in February which rehydrated vines and freshened up vine leaves. The rain also signaled the beginning of a pattern of cooler daytime temperatures which allowed fruit to finish ripening during some relatively moderate temperatures. The moisture boost also fortunately helped improve fruit balance and slow ripening period allowed flavour development to catch back up to sugar ripeness.

cellaring notes

Crafted for immediate enjoyment but will cellar over a long term under ideal conditions.

alcohol volume

14.50%

acid

6.40

pH

3.50

residual sugar

0.90

pack size

Single: 750ml bottle, Case: 6 x 750ml bottle

previous vintages

2020