Houdini McLaren Vale Shiraz 2020

Cellaring Smidge recommends drinking this wine within the next 10 to 12 years.

Viticulture  2020 was warm to hot and dry, although the cooler nights were a godsend. With careful irrigation management and canopy retention the fruit ripened evenly and was machine harvested in pristine condition. Yields were average. This 100% Shiraz comes from a selection of premium blocks across the region of McLaren Vale from the area known as Seaview in the north to Willunga in the south. Vine age ranges from 14 to 45 years old with a mix of both single and double cordon trellis structure. Soil types include dark sand over red clay, red/brown clay/loam mottled with quartz and ironstone and brown loam over limestone.. 

Vinification & Maturation Fermentation was even and on average lasted 11 days with a maximum temperature of 280C. Total average time on skins was 17 days. Upon pressing, the free run and pressings were blended to tank. After 24 hours, the wine was racked to 2-4 year old barrique and hogsheads, which were predominantly French with some American for 21 months, during which time malolactic fermentation occurred and the wines were racked twice. Prior to bottling the batches were blended and lightly fined, but not filtered.

Technical
Harvested March 2020
Bottled February 2024
Alcohol 14.5% 

Watch Matt's Video tasting note here