Monolith Vintners Old Vine Barossa Valley Shiraz 2017

TASTING NOTES

A massive all encompassing nose when allowed to breathe, it’s a little closed initially but once allowed to breathe you will find forest fruits, blackberries, smoked meat and pepper which are supported by a dark core of espresso bean, black currants and dried raisons. The palate shows superb concentration offering up tremendous texture and combines great fruit richness with subtle notes of leather, blackcurrant and alcohol. This style of wine requires decanting and time to breathe to soften prior to consuming although has been cellared prior to release the wine has the fruit, alcohol and tannin structure to ensure cellaring for many more years where it will continue to evolve. 

TECHNICAL

The 2017 vintage proved to be another good Barossa vintage following on from the outstanding 2016 vintage which although had challenges provided excellent varietal flavours. The dry grown, old vines that yielded this fruit managed to produce wonderful fruit despite small volumes. We hand picked the fruit from a single block with vines aged up to 90 years. The fruit was transported to the winery where it was gently de-stemmed into concrete open top fermenters. It was then carefully nurtured for 7 days on skins with pump overs occurring twice daily, varying in duration and intensity. When primary fermentation was almost complete, the wine was drained from the skins and the must is gently basket pressed for 8 hours. The wine remains in a stainless steel tank until primary fermentation is completed. It is then run directly into new and old American and French hogsheads where it spent the next 24 months. Once the oak and the wine had perfectly become one the wine is blended and bottled without the use of filtration or fining. 670 six packs were produced in total.