Wolf Blass Sapphire Label Dorrien Shiraz 2016

**Available for delivery week commencing 15th May**

Stuart McCloskey “'Take me now,' the bouquet shouts – Wonderfully inviting (lavish) with heady scents of cassis, blueberry, mulberry, plum, orange zest, sweet spices too. By contrast, the palate / flavour profile is more reserved, a direct result of the wine’s geography, the entire point of the exercise… I wouldn’t call it ‘fine-boned.’ Elegant, yes, however, the fruit is ripe and plush – the entry is sweet and moreish. Blackcurrant, plum compote juxtaposed with a healthy dose of earth and wood. Dry mint and dark chocolate on the finish, which goes on for an age (perhaps longer!). Relatively speaking, this feels ‘young’ and will continue to evolve for a decade or so. Decanted for a few hours and served using Zalto Bordeaux glassware.”

Wolf Blass launched the first collection of Sapphire labelled sub-regional Barossa Shiraz wines from the excellent 2012 vintage. These sub-regional Shiraz each represents a critical marker along their traditional source route.  It lay in a straight line through the centre of the valley from Lyndoch in the south, right through the heart at Dorrien and north to St John’s, then following a sweeping eastern arc over the far side of the winery to Moculta in the northern reaches of Eden Valley.

The winemaking for all three Shiraz follows the same path in order best to tease out the sub-regional differences.  Harvested at optimum maturity, fruit from individual blocks is crushed separately and fermented in small open-top fermenters. A mix of plunging and gentle pumping over is used to optimise flavour, colour and tannin extraction. The wines are left on skins until dry to lengthen tannins and enhance palate line and finish. Each is matured in 60-75% seasoned and 25%-40% new French oak barrels for 18 months.   In Australia, the wines retail for around €90 each.

Sourced from two distinguished vineyard sites at Dorrien in the central heart of the Barossa Valley. A largely flat area at an altitude of around 260m, with gentle undulations sloping towards the North Para River, Dorrien is geologically stable, predominantly shaped by the flow of the central river over time. The blocks are planted in ancient sedimentary soils over 5 million years old, made up of sandy loams over light to medium clays.

With a relatively low annual rainfall of around 470mm, low humidity, and optimum sunlight, Dorrien benefits from cooling breezes flowing down-river from the foothills. Together these natural conditions produce elegant, balanced Shiraz, with a purity of fruit and fine, structural tannins.