We all know not to judge a book by it’s cover and this is a prime example of why – it’s a variation of our 2016 Marsanne Roussanne Viognier from Westgate Vineyard – 4 declassified barriques which made a voluptuous wine, a touch fuller than the original release. It’s a Cleanskin, available in dozens only.
About the original wine:
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!
