Hare’s Chase Lepus Shiraz 2018

A cracking, pointy-end and deservedly so, Barossa Shiraz from the Marananga sub-region. It reflects what a sensational vintage the region enjoyed in 2018. ‘Lepus’, of course, refers to hares but it is also a reference to a constellation in the southern skies, also appropriate for a stellar wine. 

The grapes were sourced from the most northerly block of their shiraz (clone 1654, for those who like such details), which was planted back in 1991. Grapes were handpicked (there are only just over a thousand bottles of this wine so this was a small and focused operation). They were destemmed into a single four-tonne open fermenter. Pigeage took place (basically foot stomping), a technique which gently extracts colour and tannins. As the ferment neared completion, remontage was used (this is pumping the wine from the bottom of the fermenter up and over the must, which helps to submerge the skins and release the carbon dioxide). After fermentation, maceration continued for three more weeks, before the wine was pressed into two new French oak hogsheads and two new French oak barriques. It was gravity racked twice during maturation. After 20 months, the wine was bottled without fining or filtration.

There is oak here, but it is perfectly balanced and integrating extremely well. Dark fruits, cassis, black cherries, mulberries, spices, leather, tobacco leaves, delicatessen notes. A complex, finely balanced and very long shiraz. Very fine tannins. It gives the impression that it should be a blockbuster, but that never really eventuates. Rather, there is elegance and class, but yet at all times, generous flavours. A superb Barossa shiraz. Leave it for as long as you can, would be the sage advice, but drinking it now is hardly the worst idea you’ll hear.