A small production and limited release wine.
Sourced from the famous Hickinbotham vineyard in Clarendon. Farmed biodynamically, dry grown, rocky red, ironstone rich soils, planted in 1971. This is a revered site in McLaren Vale, situated much further inland than our Rayner Vineyard, and at 250m altitude, this is a very different expression of Shiraz. Finer, with ferrous quality and red fruits, there is a tightness and coiled power.
60 dozen bottles made.
96 points - Halliday Wine Companion
"This is the first year for this cuvée, sourced from the Hickinbotham Vineyard, planted in '71 to rocky, red, ironstone-rich soils. About 30% whole bunch, and the newest oak a 1-year-old Stockinger demi-muid... Bondar’s quiet making and attention to small detail are there, but the expression is definitively of another site, with a refined drive of red fruits and rocky minerals, a more savoury line, less floral, and with spices perhaps more brown than black. There’s a compression, a firmness of natural tannin encircling fruit, but it’s not hard to see this will unfurl gracefully, as it does over a day or so. This will be a cuvée to follow." - Marcus Ellis
