Ox Hardy Slate Shiraz 2019
- 93
- $80
- Drink by: 2021 - 2032
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A little slice of history here. This McLaren Vale shiraz was fermented in an old, open slate fermenter in the historic Tintara winery built in 1863 with slate mined from the nearby Willunga Hills. The Tintara fermenters were reportedly last used in 1927!
Wax-lined slate and concrete fermenters are finding renewed favour with many Aussie winemakers. They are excellent for stabilising temperature during fermentation and, being porous, they can contribute texture to a wine. Ox Hardy Slate Shiraz reveals a lovely seamless quality and, yes, there’s plenty of texture here.
Deep, dense garnet red. Concentrated perfume redolent of violets, dried herbs, black fruits and earth. There’s an open and generous Vale quality to the wine. Eighteen months maturation in seasoned French oak shows thoughtful winemaking, choosing to make the fruit the focus and allowing the wine its vitality and youth but with the promise to age nicely.
I was particularly taken by an almost exotic savoury note – kind of pomegranate, kind of Mediterranean spice – that peeks through. This wine has energy to burn.
Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.
