Estate Collection Carignan 1.5L

Dirty sandstone, juvenile greywacke, clay and iron fragments. The Carignan grapes are grown in a very small portion of the vineyards, comprised of just four rows from a tiny 0.2-hectare site. These grapes were then hand harvested in one pass through the vineyard. 15% of the grapes were whole-bunch fermented and the remainder was crushed and destemmed. The must was pumped over or punched down twice a day, where it was fermented in an open-top fermenter with indigenous yeast. The wine was pressed into one 500-litre French oak barrel, where it progressed naturally through malolactic fermentation.

The 2024/2025 season had a cold, wet winter, a cool spring with rainfall and sufficient soil moisture levels. This indicated a late start to the harvest season. We experienced less stress and no disease pressure in our vineyards. We had two hot days in December but the vineyards were resilient and showed no signs of heat stress. A warm ripening period ensued with greater diurnal shifts, resulting in a classic vintage that shows great promise of exceptional quality and ageability.

The wine spent 11 months in barrel before blending and bottling.