Enormously flavoursome with rich fruit characters of black cherry, plum and ripe berries. American oak adds nuances of vanilla, cigar box, coffee and toast.

Dry/Sweet
dry
semi sweet
sweet
wine body
light
medium
full
Oak
none
some
plenty
grape varieties

Shiraz

blend or single variety

Single Variety

region

Clare Valley

colour

At release, the wine has a deep red colour with a purple hue to the edge.

nose

The wine has complex and enticing nose showing dark berry fruit along with juicy black plum, spice, cedar and hints of licorice, chocolate and roasted coffee.

palate

This is a voluptuous wine with great mid palate expression, layers of flavour and yet great balance. Fresh red berry fruits are cradled across the palate by mocha and vanilla spice flavours from high quality oak. The barrel fermentation results in a wine that has well integrated fruit and oak and harmonious, elegant flavours and a long persistent finish.

vintage conditions

The growing season in the lead up to vintage 2014 saw average autumn and winter rainfalls on the Taylor family Clare Valley estate vineyards. During winter, the average daily maximum temperature was in line with long term averages, resulting in the first budburst occurring at the normal time of late August. The rainfall for spring was below average; however vine vigour was still good due to the presence of subsurface moisture from regular winter rains. During the first week of December there was a cool change and 16 mm of rain fell. This provided the vines with welcome opportunity to 'freshen up'. The remainder of December and the first half of January were dry and warm with thankfully no heatwaves due to regular cool changes. From mid-January to mid-February however, hot conditions prevailed which delayed veraison. Harvest commenced relatively early due to hot conditions through most of January and February. On February 14 the hot conditions and indeed harvest were both bought to a sudden stop by a big downpour of rain. For the remainder of February conditions were mild with daytime temperatures cooler than average. These cooler conditions retained acid levels in grapes and slowed sugar development thus crucially allowed time for the all-important flavours to develop. The mild conditions continued through March, allowing ideal, even tannin and flavour development to occur in the red varieties.

cellaring notes

Crafted for immediate enjoyment but will cellar over a long term under ideal conditions.

alcohol volume

14.20%

acid

6.51

pH

3.50

residual sugar

0.63

pack size

Single: 750ml bottle, Case: 6 x 750ml bottle

previous vintages

2015,2016,2017,2018,2019