Winemaker: Dan Standish

This is my second collaboration with Dan Standish, and follows on from the bunchy, campariesque 2015 ‘An Ill Wind’ Mataro Grenache. Dan is well known as former chief winemaker at Torbreck and should be even better known for his Standish wines, which, without exception are defined by a relentless search for perfection. Dan’s wines have evolved over the years into very pure expressions of singular Barossa sites. The evolution of style and increasing finesse parallels his ongoing pursuit of international vinous knowledge and understanding.

Whole bunches were refrigerated for 48 hours before being foot stomped and cool-fermented without inoculation.

Maturation on gross lees in Noblot concrete egg followed. The wine was only racked to bottle. The earlier picking has resulted in intense blue fruit characters and lifted savoury aromatics that had us all thinking Saint-Joseph. The lees contact has contributed a remarkable textural creaminess. Far removed from the Barossa Shiraz stereotype, fruit sweetness is wound right back, and without any American or French oak contribution, the wine is a very pure expression of the vineyard.