KAESLER - Alte Reben Barossa Valley Shiraz 2016

***VERY LIMITED***

Deep red colour with a good purple tint. The bouquet is spicy and complex, elegant and restrained, with star anise and balsamic herb accents, a hint of Campari and attendant herbal bitterness, the palate full-bodied and powerful with a long-lasting aftertaste. A big, bold and very impressive shiraz. Some acceptable bitterness in the tannin/alcohol combination. A long-term wine.
Rated 95 points - Huon Hooke - The Real Review - 11 FEB 2020

"The colour is spectacular, as is the profound depths of the blackberry, liqueur-soaked plum, licorice, bitter chocolate and spice fruit, oak a further adornment."
Rated 97 points - James Halliday - AWC

Alte Reben, meaning ‘Old Vines’’, demonstrates of the power and flavour of the older vines from the KAESLER estate. This wine is produced entirely from grapes grown in our Marananga vineyard planted in 1899. Not many can boast custody of a nine acre, single vineyard of Shiraz planted in the nineteenth century – we make the most of it. The wine is aged in new French oak Puncheons.

Characteristic
Appearance
Deep garnet.

Aroma
Ripe dark red and blacker spectrum of blackberry and plum. Kisses of cassis and framboise wafting high in the glass. Oak reveals itself as crème caramel, vanilla and sandalwood.

Palate
Subtle but firm tannin, round and generous, stream all the way through and bulldoze their way to end of the palate. Acid is solid, bracing and highly structured to suit the tannin.

Tasting
This wine is in the old fashioned style, designed for the long haul. No stalky whole berry, lift or unripe palate structure here. Should drink well into the 2040’s.

While KAESLER regards vines over 40 years as old, this wine comes from an estate vineyard at Marananga planted in 1899; Striking crimson-purple colour, and has gorgeously pure blackberry and plum fruit, oak (French) and tannins perfectly balanced. Not fined or filtered. The one drawback is the choice of cork for a wine that should live for 50 years under screw cap.

The Shiraz is grown on the 113-year-old estate vineyard, and is matured in 40% new and 60% one-year-old French barrels.

Harvested by hand on the 15th February from our Marananga vineyards which were planted in 1899. After crushing, the must is kept cold for the first few days before we start to work the cap.

The winemaking is more about what the wine needs each day, so some days the pump overs are done with splashing down, giving lots of air and others just to keep the cap fresh. All this is done in order to keep the style and structure with subtle but firm tannins. While pressing the wine we keep a close eye on the flavours and tannin, again, to keep the palate structure. With careful cellaring, I’m sure it will go well beyond the 20-25 year range.

Vineyard Soils: Schist rock over blue grey clay / deep compacted, broken down schist with red sandstone pebbles on the surface along the Marananga creek line
Vine Age: 116
Alcohol: 14.5%
pH: 3.68
Acidity: 5.31 g/l