Purple Hands Old Vine Barossa Shiraz 2019

The team at Purple Hands, Craig Stansborough and his partner, Mark Slade, look to the southern part of the Barossa around Williamstown, for their shiraz. Winemaking will be variations on a theme with a small percentage of whole bunch inclusion, open fermenters, a mix of yeasts including indigenous ones, gentle extraction, basket-pressing and then time, 18 months, in a mix of new and more mature French oak. 

Dark purple, near opaque. Spices, chocolate and black fruits with very good integration of oak. Mulberries, leather, black olives then soft tannins here and decent length. Overall terrific flavours backed by bright acidity. Five to six years and then this should plateau for many more. If one had a quibble, it would be that the long finish does lack a smidge of intensity, but for this price, you can hardly expect Grange. This is a really good drink and cracking value.