COLOUR: Dark purple to red

NOSE: Complex aromas of red and dark berry fruits, cassis, cedar with a subtle hint of the famous Coonawarra mint.

PALATE: Complex flavours of ripe dark berry fruits, cassis, dark chocolate and cedar. The mouthfeel displays long, persistent fruit drive detailed with elegant fine-grained tannins and classic Coonawarra seaspray notes to finish.

VINTAGE CONDITIONS: The Evans Vineyard experienced a dry and cold winter in 2015, before a dry spring and an extraordinarily hot December. The region was then frosted on the 3rd December, amazingly late and a consequence of the dry year. The perfectly ripe fruit was hand-picked in glorious autumn sunshine, the Merlot and Shiraz on the 29th February and Cabernet Sauvignon on the 15th March, all much earlier than average due to the drought year.

WINEMAKING: Hand-picked fruit was crushed and chilled to macerate prior to fermentation under heading-down boards for gentle colour, flavour and tannin extraction. The wine was inoculated with selected yeast and rack and returned daily before being pressed to tank then moved to barrel. The wines underwent full malolactic fermentation. Following 19 months maturation in 100% French oak (60% new, 40% one year old), the wines were racked, egg white fined and lightly filtered before being bottled in January 2018. 

Rated 96 points by Andrew Caillard (MW).