These 50-year-old vines are the only example of this unique combination in the Hunter Valley. The grapes are picked and vinified together giving a wine with loads of character. Concentrated black forest fruits, liquorice, spice and earth. Dusty tannins add structure and the finish is long and lingering. This has consistently been one of Margan's most popular wines.
From a block of interplanted shiraz and mourvedre on red volcanic soil, shiraz accounting for 85% of the vines. Whole-berry fermented, 2 weeks on skins, matured for 18 months in French barriques (10% new). It is a natural blend for the late ripening mourvedre. This is very well made with perfect ripeness of a field blend - not easy.
95 pts - James Halliday, Published 01 August 2019
Winemaker Notes
The 2017 vintage was hot and dry and produced outstanding quality fruit from all varieties. The grapes were picked together from the same block and co-fermented under cool conditions using cultured aromatic yeast. After fermentation the wine was placed in new and used French oak barriques where it matured for 20 months prior to bottling. The intense tannins of the Mourvedre help lift the spicy notes of the Shiraz in the wine to provide a medium - full bodied structure accentuated coupled with vanillin notes from the oak.