Shiraz Viognier is an obsession which consumes the Yering Station team, as they continue to enjoy and refine the artisanal process with each new vintage. Co-ferments of Viognier skins and Shiraz berries, hand picked off closely managed vines to the most opportune schedule, the careful extraction of aromatics, flavours and colour, make for a wonderfully perfumed, complex wine with velvet tannins and prolonged, engaging finish.
The exceptional quality of fruit from the highly specialized Yering Station vineyard is enhanced by the most sensitive winemaking. Grapes are all hand picked, the Shiraz from a single block of vines, yielding an extremely meagre crop of 1 to 1½ t/acre, clones PT23/BVRC12, well over twenty years of age, trained to trellis vertical shoot positioning and planted to grey loam over yellow clay soils. Fruit is treated to a combination of roto and open tank vinification for several days after inoculation to Lalvin syrah yeasts. Portions remain on skins for up to twenty eight days, all components complete malolactic fermentation before ageing for over a year in a selection of the finest, exclusively new 228 litre French oak barriques.
Vibrant purple/red. Lifted aromas of dark berries, pepper and spice with hints of violets and liquorice that complement the toasty, mocha oak. A concentrated palate revealing intense flavours of blackberries, spice and cedar. Tightly structured with toasty French oak characters and fine grained, persistent tannins. A complex wine that finishes long and powerful.
