$118.90
Colour – black core with red rim.
Nose – the aromas are fresh, lifted and inviting with cherries, earth, spice, lavender and subtle eucalypt, fine cedar and cream.
Palate – The palate is restrained and then unfolds with juicy cherries and spice that build to the mid palate and carry through giving great length, balanced with laser like acid and fine tannins.
Cellaring This wine will drink well 2020 – 2037.
Viticulture This block on Mengler’s Hill is approximately 4.5 kilometres to the south of Angaston in one of the highest vineyards in Eden Valley at 500m above sea level. The location benefits from clay loam soils riddled with ironstone and small amounts of quartz. A higher altitude and corresponding cooler climate offer warm days and cold nights resulting in wines of elegance that are both vibrant and spicy.
Vinification & Maturation Fermented in a small open top vessel, fermentation lasted 7 days with total time on skins was 14 days before being drained and pressed. The free run and pressings were blended and then the component earmarked for this wine was matured in 3 year old french barrique for 23 months. The wine was then fined lightly and bottled without filtration. Matured in bottle for 17 months before release.
Technical
Harvested March 2015
Bottled February 2017
Alcohol 14.2%
$118.90
Tasting Notes
Colour – black core with deep red rim.
Nose – is full of dark fruits and spice with fresh charcuterie, graphite, subtle earth and peppery
Palate – the most restrained of the Barossa Valley trio, the 2013 Moppa exhibits a backbone of fresh and juicy dark fruits with subtle spice and earth notes that carry through to the late palate, balanced with fine savoury tannins giving a long seamless finish.
Cellaring Drink now to 2030 if cellared well.
Viticulture Situated on the south eastern slope of Mt Moppa, vineyard is at an altitude of approximately 400m above sea level, and a soil profile of deep red/ brown loam, mottled with quartz and ironstone fragments. The rows run north-south, and the combined elevation and southerly aspect contribute to the softness and spiciness of this Shiraz, with Moppa being the most elegant and restrained of the 3 wines.
$23.90
Winemaker Matt Wenk
Tasting Notes
In the glass this wine is a pale straw with a green hue, initially the nose is full of citrus, honeydew and kiwi fruit, which then evolves showing hints of straw, minerals and subtle oyster shell and sandlewood. Once on the palate, the 2017 is dominated by citrus and passionfruit, coupled with some herbal straw characters and balanced with mineral mouthwatering acidity, fine texture and has great length.
Cellaring
Smidge recommends drinking this wine over the next 3 to 4 years.
Viticulture
The 2017 growing season was mainly warm and dry leading up to the start of the ripening period at which time, the mercury rose deliver- ing some very hot weather, making us all very nervous. In mid Feb- ruary, a much needed day long downpour was experienced, with a few lazy showers over the following days. This event reset the ripen- ing cycle, resulting in many blocks, including this Sauvignon blanc, ripening evenly over the following weeks in near perfect dry and mild conditions.
Vinification & Maturation
This wine was produced from fruit that was pressed lightly, with the free run only being used. The juice components were then settled before separately being cold fermented in stainless steel with neutral yeasts. This year approximately 2% barrel fermented fruit was blended. All parcels were blended, fined and filtered prior to being bottled.
$23.90
Houdini 2017 McLaren Vale Grenache Rosé