The vines for the NVC Shiraz were planted in 1921 and their fruit had traditionally gone into Vat 5, a stalwart in our red offerings for many years. After the long drought of the late 1990s and early 2000s, we decided that the vineyard needed more attention. We stopped making Vat 5 and spent the next 10 years working on the soil and vines to get them back to where they needed to be. We are delighted to be releasing wine from this great old vineyard again. On 5 February, the fruit was handpicked and sorted in the vineyard before fermentation took place in our open-top vats. After fermentation, the wine was matured in a single new French-oak cask (2500l) for 15 months.
The NVC vineyard always shows rich, darker characters and a beautiful balance between dark fruit flavours and clean, savoury spice. The soft tannins, French oak and bright acidity add to the wine’s complexity, resulting in a long, seamless palate.
Alc. – 13.4%
Cellaring – 5–10 years
