MAX & ME - Boongarrie Vineyard Shiraz Eden Valley 2015

***Rated 96 Points - Halliday, Wine Companion***

MAX & ME Shiraz Eden Valley 2015 is from our Boongarrie Estate ‘House Block’ Shiraz, a small ironstone-rich block planted in 1998 with cuttings from the old-block Shiraz on Poonawatta Vineyard, a legendary local Eden Valley source block.

Pick date: 5/03/2015. Picking utilised a new technology with significant quality advancement where harvesting was carried out in the cool of night with a Pellenc Selectiv grape destemming and sorting harvester. Fermentation was open-style in grape bins, with pigéage for maceration. A total of 10 days on skins. Elevage and maturation was in fine-grain French oak hogsheads and puncheons (new 30%) for 18 months maturation prior to bottling.

2015 was a very unusual season for us, where the weather conditions the previous spring meant there was a miniscule crop in the vineyard (0.3 T/ac), though the vines were in excellent health throughout the growing season. This incredibly low crop had the effect of amplifying the flavours and aromas from our particular site. Definitely one of our most treasured vintages.

Appearance:
Lustrous deep rich red, dark core, medium colour density.

Aroma:
Intriguing spice. Sage leaves, bitter cherries, fresh earth, five spice, rose petal & incense.

Flavour:
Lithe, mineral palate. Mid-weight, distinctly savoury. Very fine-grained tannin. Delicious and refreshing underlying acid frame and campari-like bitterness.
Very long flavours. Medium-bodied but profound flavour depth.

MAX & ME is small-batch wines and olive oil, centred on Boongarrie Estate, in the Eden Valley in the Central-East of the Barossa Ranges.

Phil & Sarah’s home, Boongarrie Estate, is a 120 hectare property in the Eden Valley, in the Barossa Ranges. The sedimentary soils are thin and underlain with rose quartz and siltstone; the landscape is undulating, studded with ancient redgums and rocky outcrops.

The elevation tempers the summer heat, and provides cool air flow during the nights, ideal for nuanced and mineral flavours in the wines.

On suitable sites within the property, 25 acres is planted to vineyard (half Shiraz and half Cabernet Sauvignon est. 1998), and a 10 acre Olive grove planted to Manzanilla Cacerena, Koroneiki and Kalamata (est 2002).