Winter provided average rainfall and spring delivered beautiful warm, dry conditions, perfectly setting up vintage 2016. A warm start to summer in January gave good fruit set and crop predictions. An unseasonal single rain event in late January delivered adequate soil moisture for full maturity in the red varieties, both these lots demanding their own unique bottling.

Yielding only gently with an initial hint of distinguished black savoury plums framed by serious oak, it reveals complex and heady floral notes that interplay with rich middle eastern savoury spices and vanilla bean elements. Nutmeg and cinnamon with a hint of smoke interplay complete the picture.

The palate is immediately mouthwatering with powerful satsuma plum, salted chocolate and licorice. The seamless mid palate with sensual mouth coating tannins offer notes of charcuterie, flint and tea leaf. The expansive finish of long fine grained tannins interweaves hints of vanilla bean, mocha and smoky graphite.

Deep dark plum with purple edges.

The rich complexity of this wine has the winemakers reaching for a salt crusted Bistecca Fiorentina, the classic Italian thick cut T-Bone steak, dressed with rosemary and served with smashed crispy baby potatoes. A Moroccan lentil and chickpea tagine with fresh spices brings out the exotic nature of this shiraz.

The fruit comes from our Trinders (old Block 5) and Chapman Brook (Blocks 23 and 24) vineyards. The typical soils of these vineyards are geologically ancient, free draining red sandy loams with a high percentage of lateritic gravel. The vines are now fully dry grown and, early in the season, manually thinned and leafed to expose the fruit. Picking decisions are made by taste only; picking is by hand in small batches.