Pontifex Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre 2018

The world simply cannot have too many small, quality wine producers in the Barossa Valley and Pontifex is another to fit the bill. These two wines, from the cracking 2018 vintage, reveal an exciting new operation (okay, newish). This might be traditionally considered a Rhône blend although these days you could make a strong case for it being the quintessential Barossa blend. The three grapes were fermented separately in four and six tonne open-top fermenters for seven days with twice-daily pumpovers. A percentage of the Shiraz was whole bunch. After fermentation, the wine spent 20 months in second and third use French oak
barrels. The final blend was 60% Grenache, 30% Shiraz and 10% Mourvèdre. Deep maroon in colour with pleasing aromas of roast meats, tobacco leaf, dry herbs, raspberries and plums. This is slightly attractively rustic and appealingly flavoured. The palate moves more to dark fruits and mushrooms. Very good length here with fine tannins making this a delicious blend, worth chasing.