This single vineyard, at 550m above sea level is hauntingly beautiful. Home to the majestic wedgetail eagle, the soils composed of pink quartz and ironstone, provide a formidable substrate in which the vines takes a tenuous hold. The fruit is sourced from one low yielding block in Joel Mattschoss’ Mengler’s Hill vineyard. 20% of the total weight is placed in whole bunches in a concrete egg while the balance is crushed and placed on top. A brief post fermentation maceration is followed by pressing and transfer to 300 litre French hogsheads, of which 50% are new.
Intense, tightly coiled and vital, this wine is like a great orator. Every component measured and well timed, the tone lifts and falls, all the while building emotion and resonance. Tension and excitement builds and leads through to a memorable finish. Oh, and it tastes amazing!
94 points – Halliday Wine Companion (Ned Goodwin MW)
Sourced from the Mengler Hill site in Eden Valley. Hand picked and fermented wild in a concrete egg, replete with 20% whole bunches, before transfer to French oak (20% new). A lather of lilac, lavender and aniseed defines a sumptuous nose. Purple fruits and rosewater, the palate, with a creep of tannin growing in gravitas across the back end as the wine opens. This is a delicious, full-weighted expression of considerable class and detail. Top of the totem in the region.
