Hewitson 1853 Barrel 2021

The annual blending of the barrels (sounds like an Aussie version of the running with the bulls), the team select their very best barrel of Old Garden Mourvèdre and their very best barrel of Monopole Shiraz and blend them. So production is limited to just two barrels. It is, naturally, a 50/50 split of Shiraz and Mourvèdre with 65% of the grapes from this vintage whole bunch pressed, followed by three weeks on skins, and twenty months in new French oak barriques. Inky maroon, this is a special wine and it very much drinks like it. The oak is still a little evident but for a wine of this size and power, this comes as no surprise and will continue to integrate. Time is very much on its side. Vanillin and nutmeg notes to the fore, the fruit weaves its spell with good concentration and notes of cassis, chocolate, mocha, spices, new leather, black fruits plums and warm earth. Dense, balanced and intense, the wine is fresh and complex, finishing with silky tannins. Such length! A twenty year proposition.