The Tempranillo fruit for this wine was sourced from a vineyard in the central Perth Hills. The soils found in this vineyard contain a high proportion of ironstone gravels which help to reduce fertility and ensure the vines work hard to access water and nutrients. This is important in Tempranillo as the variety is prone to producing larger berries and high yields if the resources are available which is less than ideal for the production of high quality wines.

In Spain Tempra means the early one, a moniker the variety has acquired as it is typically the first red variety harvested each season. An early harvest is important for balance in Tempranillo as the variety’s pH tends to increase aggressively during ripening. In our experience flavour development plateaus quite early in the ripening process before pH begins to rise. Picking at this time before more acid is lost critical to ensure good flavour along with brightness and vitality from the natural pH.

Hand harvested and vinified in small open fermenters, the wine is pressed off skins to finish fermentation in Hungarian and American oak puncheons (500L barrels). The American oak is sourced exclusively from the Minnesotian forrests adding plenty of the sweet vanillin and spice characters to the wine without the garish coconut flavours often associated with American oak.