L.A.S Vino Pirate Blend 2022

Stuart McCloskey, tasted 7th October 2025 "I can smell the salty waves lapping at my feet – the bouquet is a heady one and filled with exotic spice, every imaginable dark fruit you can think of (and all soaked together), cinnamon stick, Chinese five spice, liquorice, iron filings, bags of alpine herbs, some bitters, dark chocolate, black olive and camphor coffee. I’m not convinced I will ever unravel the smorgasbord of aromatics. The palate is packed with juicy, ripe (dark) fruits. This is fleshy, moreish and off the charts in terms of succulence. Salt, plum, black tea, alpine herbs, blackberry, dark chocolate, caraway seed, black liquorice lead into iodine. It’s a wine that really requires spending the day with. Time would not be wasted as this unravels and provides more complexity with more aeration. Fruit melds into a deeply satisfying savoury edge. Wonderfully long… Charismatic. Drink now to 2035. 65% Touriga Nacional 32% Tinta Cao 3% Souzao."

Pirates were the outlaws, the ones who broke the rules, the fighters, the ones who lust after life with gusto. They drank with a passion that was truly magnificent. For pirates liquor was the saviour; it soothed the heat of the sun and made the dark nights brighter. This blend is an ode to those salty sea dogs we left behind and those still sailing. Those willing to break the rules and live a life according to nothing but passion and the pursuit of personal desire.
 
The 2022 vintage was a fantastic vintage with warm weather leading to even ripening and good yields. The Pirate Blend contains three Portuguese varieties: Touriga Nacional for structure and depth. Tinta Cao for aroma and finesse. Sousao is the darkest berry I know, and you know what they say, the darker the berry, the sweeter the fruit. All the fruit was handpicked from 40 year old dry grown vines in Yallingup. The wine was both bunch and berry sorted prior to softening for 18 months in barrique
 
Tasting Notes: 
Ruby red in hue. The wine displays notes of sweet spice, cinnamon, clove, plum compote, blueberry and dark chocolate. Soft silky tannins with an exotic mix of red berry fruit sweetness and cocoa on the palate. Long, complex and an intriguing finish.