While the origins of this variety lie in the Basque country, Tannat is best known for its role in the strapping, ‘hairs-on-your-chest’ kinda reds of Madiran in France’s southwest. This is a one-off release as it also came from the Adelaide Hills Bowe Lees vineyard which was destroyed by the bushfires in 2020..
Winemaker, Pete Shiell, picks up the story: “This is certainly a wine made in the vineyard. Multiple passes to thin shoots, manually managed canopy, dual green harvests and hand harvesting of bunches delivered fruit that we think shows the best of the variety and the site.” The grapes were fully de-stemmed, fermented with indigenous yeasts in open fermenters, hand plunged and spent 10 days on skins prior to pressing. It was raised on light lees in thick-staved puncheons (one-third new) for 10 months prior to bottling.
"Not a heavy or big wine, structurally, but nevertheless has some of those characters. Inky fruits, a little acid bristle; Cab Franc-like in this respect. Neb-like length. Actually would have picked as Langhe if tasted blind." Stewart @ Slowbeer