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Thirsting For Thistledown»
Somewhere near the Seaview end of McLaren Vale's Chapel Hill Road, a perfunctory passerine perched her pincers astride a pair of power poles and saw herself alit. Down she went amongst the dry grown branches of an old Grenache vineyard, setting the valuable veterans ablaze. The scorched site eventually came to the attention of a winemaking trio, the Messrs Leske, Tynan & Cooke, Masters of Wine and a venerable vintner, all driven by a consuming passion to make greater Grenache. Thistledown vintage very small amounts of the most extraordinary Grenache. Beautifully detailed and conspicuously elegant, their floral bouquets and graceful finish emulate the aromatic lift and peacock's tail of a prettily perfumed Pinot Noir. Magnificent to savour as a captivating aperitif, a bliss alongside fine cuisine, the Grenache of Thistledown represent an exquisite new direction in the evolving Aussie Grenache style... Polly & the pyre to paradise»

Brands Laira One Seven One Cabernet CONFIRM VINTAGE

Cabernet Sauvignon Coonawarra South Australia
From fruit grown to one of Coonawarra's most eninent small vineyards, the superior Brand's Laira Block 1, planted in 1971. The precious vines yield scant harvests of the most extraordinary quality grapes which translate into the most remarkable wine. McWilliams reserve the elite parcels from this treasured viticultural asset to construct a pure single vineyard wine, one of the nation's great editions of Cabernet Sauvignon.
Available in cases of 6
Case of 6
$479.50
A no expense spared approach to vineyard management leads to a selective harvest of the highest quality fruit, all conducted by hand and sorted bunch by bunch. Components are fermented on skins and treated to daily pumpovers ensuring optimal extraction of flavour and colour. Batches are pressed off skins while still slightly sweet and pumped to new, fine grained French oak barriques and hogsheads for completion of ferments, followed by racking off lees and return to the same barrels fortwo years maturation. Barrels are periodically rack and returned to achieve clarity and contribute to the wine's development. A further term of bottle age serves to integrate the wine and tame the tannins.
Deep crimson red. Brooding nose of brambleberry and dark currants, full of cassis and spicy cedar notes underpinned by dried herbs. A rich and complex fruit driven palate displaying sweet, dense, dark berry fruit characters and some chocolate mint notes. The flavours seamlessly integrate with vanilla and mocha oak and flow through to a long, fine and lingering, fruit filled yet savoury, silky tannin finish.
Brands Laira
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Brands Laira
The Laira Vineyard was established in 1893 on the Coonawarra’s famous terra rossa heartland

Brands Laira is today widely regarded as one of the region’s best plantings of Shiraz. With Shiraz being the only wine grape planted in Coonawarra from 1900 to 1950, the variety has played an important role in establishing Coonawarra’s international reputation as Australia’s pre-eminent red wine region.

Brands Laira

Eric and Nancy Brand purchased the Laira Vineyard and adjoining property in 1946; and over the next decade extended the vineyard to 23 hectares of vines. The first wine sold under the Laira label was released in 1966. Fruit from this century-old Original Vineyard is still used today in the production of the Brand’s of Coonawarra Stentiford’s Reserve and Patron’s Reserve.

McWilliam’s Wines purchased a 50 per cent share of the Brand’s Estate in 1990 and the remaining 50 per cent in 1994, with Eric and Nancy’s sons Jim and Bill Brand retained as winemakers. McWilliam’s Wines is today one of the largest landholders in Coonawarra, with almost 300 hectares of mainly cabernet sauvignon and shiraz vines. In recent years the company has extended the Estate to include the 165 hectare Station Block and 100 hectare Kirkgate vineyards.

Brands Laira

Brands Laira