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Red Wine

GRACE & FAVOUR 2006 GRENACHE SHIRAZ

THE WINE

The Grace & Favour is intensely more-ish with very good depth of colour and an elegant nose of raspberry, black cherry backed by some warm spice and chocolate. Medium-bodied but generous on the palate full of warm, comforting flavours like a perfect stew on a cold winter’s night, this Grenache Shiraz has a seamless blend of fresh raspberry and rich plum fruit flavours balanced by more savory notes of tannin and spice. A marvelous accompaniment to roast ham rubbed with brown sugar and studded with cloves, or the very finest pork sausages you can lay your hands on.

FRUIT

2006 was a lovely vintage to be making wine in the Clare Valley with every variety shining, including the Grenache from the Stanley Ridge vineyard. These 40 year old, dry grown bush vines again produced a low crop of intensely flavoured fruit, and as usual were among the last of our parcels of fruit to ripen. The fruit was handpicked in late March over a two day period. The Grenache is joined in the blend by 30% Shiraz, which came from three separate vineyards: one in between the winery and Sevenhill, one just north of Sevenhill, and the third in the hills to the north-east of Clare.

VINIFICATION

The Grenache and all three parcels of Shiraz were fermented separately. The Grenache was destemmed and pumped to a closed fermenter, and fermented with a combination of wild and cultured yeast. Fermentation lasted about ten days and following that the wine was left on skins for a further month to extract more complex flavours and to build texture on the palate. After pressing the wine was matured in tank for 12 months, and then filled to oak, 20% of it new, and aged for a further two and a half years. The Shiraz parcels were crushed to a combination of closed and open fermenters, and following fermentation were held on skins for between three days and three weeks. All of the Shiraz was matured in French oak, predominantly older, and was blended with the Grenache only after the Grenache had been racked out of wood in November 2009. Shiraz barrels were selected for the blend on the basis of their ability to complement the Grenache quietly from the wings, allowing it to take centre stage, and show its distinctive flavours to best advantage.

THE WINE

The Grace & Favour is intensely more-ish with very good depth of colour and an elegant nose of raspberry and black cherry, backed by some warm spice and chocolate. Medium-bodied but generous on the palate full of warm, comforting flavours like a perfect stew on a cold winter’s night, this Grenache Shiraz has a seamless blend of fresh raspberry and rich plum fruit flavours balanced by more savory notes of tannin and spice. A marvellous accompaniment to roast ham rubbed with brown sugar and studded with cloves, or the very finest pork sausages you can lay your hands on.

A FEW NUMBERS

Alcohol 14.8% pH 3.5 TA 5.8 70% Grenache 30% Shiraz

Price: $19.00

DILLY DALLY 2007 MERLOT

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THE WINE

The Dilly Dally 2007 Merlot is an elegant but deeply-coloured take on merlot, with emphasis on structure and texture but not at the expense of the fruit. It’s an understated wine for grown-ups with a concentrated but elegant perfume of cassis , redcurrants, fresh blackcurrant leaf and roses. On the palate there is a marvelous interplay between some exuberant ripe, red fruit and some serious but elegant tannin, with the whole streaked through with lively and fresh acidity. In the finish the tannins show at their finest- ripe, rounded and profound- with zesty red fruit throwing them into relief. Our finest Dilly Dally to date, this is an excellent Sunday lunch wine with wing-rib roast of beef.

FRUIT

Superb in its fragrance, the 2007 Dilly Dally shows what a marvellous synergy there is between the Adelaide Hills and Merlot, and particularly when grown on the vineyard that makes such a contribution to this wine; it’s not only us that thinks it is one of the Adelaide Hills' very best vineyards. A judicious swipe of Clare Valley Merlot lends some juicy heart and some redcurrant perfume, an equally well- judged wallop of Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon builds the wine from the foundation up, and the Adelaide Hills component takes these contributions and weaves them into a delicious whole.

The Clare Valley Merlot ripened first and was handpicked between the 5th and 6th March with great flavours and perfect acidity. The Adelaide Hills Merlot followed on the 14th March at 13 Baume, also with excellent acid, and the Cabernet came soon after at 13.7 Baume.

VINIFICATION

After crushing the Adelaide Hills Merlot into a fermenter, fermentation lasted 18 days at around 22 degrees, and was preceded by two days cold-soak and followed by eight days post-fermentation maceration, in both cases to broaden the range of flavours and to improve the texture and the structure of the wine. Following pressing the wine was matured in tank for 15 months, and then in seasoned French oak for a further year before blending and bottling in October 2009.

THE WINE

The Dilly Dally 2007 Merlot is an elegant but deeply-coloured take on Merlot, with an emphasis on structure and texture but not at the expense of fruit. It’s an understated wine for grown-ups with a concentrated but elegant perfume of cassis, redcurrants, fresh blackcurrant leaf and roses. On the palate there is a marvellous interplay between some exuberant, ripe, red fruit and some serious but elegant tannins, with the whole streaked through with lively and fresh acidity. In the finish the tannins show at their finest- ripe, rounded and profound- with zesty red fruit throwing them into relief. Our finest Dilly Dally to date, this is an excellent Sunday lunch wine with wing-rib roast of beef.

A FEW NUMBERS

Alcohol 14.3% pH 3.5 TA 6.4

Price: $19.00

HUMMER 2006 MERLOT

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THE WINE

An explosion of joyful, hedonistic pleasure, the 2006 Hummer could charm its way through any door in the world; a wine full of unmitigated, delicious joy of life. Very deeply coloured and quite opaque in the centre, the Hummer has a gloriously luxurious nose of deliciously rich and perfumed chocolate studded with the most perfectly ripe cherries in all the world, surrounded by a bed of the most ravishingly aromatic roses in all creation. So, not a bad first impression. And the palate’s not too bad either: as wonderful and as comfortable as the best pillow in the world, stuffed with the best chocolate, the best cherries and the best roses. Overwhelmingly soft, probably not something to try with a pillow at home, but after a bottle of the Hummer who knows …Overwhelmingly soft, overwhelmingly delicious, but nonetheless with great structure to hold it all in place and give it definition. And it all ends in a friendly tsunami of dark cherry, slipery plum and melting chocolate.

Serve with roast goose, jugged hare or steak au poivre.

A final note … if you have any American friends, make sure you know them really well before you offer them a Hummer. We’re saying no more.

FRUIT

A singular wine that is the product of a singular vineyard. Lying just north of Clare, this vineyard has an old patch of Merlot that sometimes produces nearly nothing, but sometimes something truly exceptional; and it did just that in 2006. The fruit was hand harvested in late March in perfect condition in perfect weather.

VINIFICATION

As soon as the fruit was crushed to the fermenter the colours, flavours and aromas stood out as exceptional, as they had done in the vineyard. Fermentation took place after three days of pre-ferment maceration (to extract lots of colour and delicious flavours) and lasted eleven days, and started warm at 30 degrees and then finished (relatively) cool at 20 degrees. After pressing, the wine was aged in tank for 10 months before filling to oak in February 2007, into a combination of (second fill) French and (a bit older) American oak. And there it lay, undisturbed for 32 months, until we picked out the best and most opulent barrels, and blended and bottled them in October 2009.

THE WINE

An explosion of joyful, hedonistic pleasure, the 2006 Hummer could charm its way through any door in the world; a wine full of unmitigated, delicious joy of life. Very deeply coloured and quite opaque in the centre, the Hummer has a gloriously luxurious nose of deliciously rich and perfumed chocolate studded with the most perfectly ripe cherries in all the world, surrounded by a bed of the most ravishingly aromatic roses in all creation. So, not a bad first impression. And the palate’s not too bad either: as wonderful and as comfortable as the best pillow in the world, stuffed with the best chocolate, the best cherries and the best roses. Probably not something to try with a pillow at home, but after a bottle of the Hummer who knows … Overwhelmingly soft, overwhelmingly delicious, but nonetheless with great structure to hold it all in place and give it definition. And it all ends in a friendly tsunami of dark cherry, slippery plum and melting chocolate.

Serve with roast goose, jugged hare or steak au poivre.

A final note.... if you have any American friends, make sure you know them really well before you offer them a Hummer. We are saying no more.

A FEW NUMBERS

Alcohol 14.7% pH 3.6 TA 6.1

Price: $40.00