Single Vineyard Shiraz, fruit sourced from Springs Hill Vineyard, Blewitt Springs, McLaren Vale grown by the Whaite family

Dry Grown on Holocene Sand, North/South aspect 205-210m altitude. Planted 1998. Sustainable Winegrowing Australia Certified Vineyard.

A vineyard we both have worked with in previous roles and one we were instantly drawn to for our Shiraz. 2022 is our fifth release of this single vineyard wine.

Hand-picked fruit, wild-fermented in a 134-year-old wax lined concrete open fermenter, 20% whole bunch (foot trodden for tannin extraction from ripe rachis), remainder destemmed. Cold soaked for 5 days, plunged and pumped over during peak of ferment, 10 days on skins. Wine was matured on lees for 10 months in French oak, 20% new.

The Shiraz was hand harvested on the 20th of March again this year! Possibly the most balanced year we have seen from The Springs Hill Vineyard in terms of canopy to fruit ratio and this year with perfect levels of light inception. Fruit was handpicked during the cool of the morning with lovely rachis ripeness once more. This 2022 is a step closer to a refined style of Shiraz we encountered whilst working in the Rhone, but maintaining its essence of Blewitt Springs.

Black core of fruits with whole white and black pepper spice notes, deep blueberry fruits, roasted earth note a fresh road tar aroma and coal dust. Medium framed and savoury, tannins fine like Dutch cocoa with hallmark Springs Hill fruit weight to complement. This is a wonderfully fine and complex Shiraz, indicative of site and the season it grew in.