2016 Westgate Vineyard Marsanne Roussanne Viognier

Grown at Westgate Vineyard, site of some of our best Shiraz grapes. We convinced the owner to pull out cabernet and plant 3 rows of Marsanne and one each of Roussanne and Viognier. Crazily, it is the only Marsanne and Roussanne in the region. 2016 is now the seventh vintage of this wine, and again all varieties were picked and pressed together, settled overnight and then racked to and allowed to ferment with wild yeasts in very old French puncheons and barriques. The wine was allowed to complete malolactic fermentation, which I think makes the wine more vinous, delicate and less fruity. Almost paradoxically the malo contributes to the transparency and unforced feel of the wine without sacrificing line. It is held on gross lees for a full 11 months, and is neither cold stabilised nor fined in any way. It's a mellifluous, mid-weight style with a gentle grip to close. A little riper and more unctuous than 2015, it is developing into another nice vintage of this wine that seems to defy all my dire predictions for the blend at its conception!

Vine Age 9yrs
13.5% alc.
pH 3.5
Total acidity 4.5g
260 dozen produced
Vegan