Colour:

The rich, dark plum centre softens to a bright scarlet, with lovely clarity at the rim.

Bouquet:

Full and luscious waves of fruit and spice bury the nose in a deep, dense perfume. Musky florals, dark plum, red berries, dark chocolate and sweet baking spice create a heady, aromatic bouquet.

Palate:

Wirra Wirra RSW Shiraz has a vibrant and textural palate. Ribbons of blue and red berry fruit are tied to deep plums and dark chocolate. Abundant primaries and nuanced, earthy tones are wrapped together in lush velvety fruit tannins, framed and seasoned with fine grained French oak.

The finish is savoury, spiced, rich and enduring.

Vineyards:

Wirra Wirra sources fruit from a combination of owned vineyards and premium McLaren Vale growers.

The blend of individual vineyard and sub-regional characteristics is the key to the resulting style.

Blended from a combination of old vine McLaren Vale sites - typically low in vigour, producing modest yields of intense fruit.

Soils range from deep sands over ironstone and loamy sand over Pirramimma sandstone clay.

Oak Maturation:

Vineyard batches were matured separately, each in their own individual selection of French oak.

The final blend comprised of approximately one third new oak, the balance coming from largely two to three-year-old barrels.

Vinification:

Parcels from each vineyard were picked in small batches and fermented separately in two ton open fermenters to maintain their distinct vineyard character. In some, a small amount of whole bunches was included.

Each batch was tasted twice daily to determine the level of hand plunging and maceration required during fermentation.

At the desired level of tannin and fruit extraction, each ferment was basket pressed with winemakers making the press cut at the first sign of tannin hardness.

Pressed batches were transferred to a tailored selection of French oak barriques and puncheons in which they completed malolactic fermentation.

Following MLF and several times thereafter, individual wines were racked and returned.

At the end of this program, select barrels from the most outstanding vineyard parcels were blended and filtered with a single pass before going to bottle.