TASTING NOTES: The Spring Seed Scarlet Runner Shiraz shows characteristic McLaren Vale fruit; red and dark fruit with spice on the nose and the palate. The fruit is fresh, as a result of its youth and a pretty decent growing season, and there’s a hint of chocolate too. Nice tannins and a mid-weight tannin make this an absolute ripper of a wine. Enjoy alone, with friends or alongside a rich stew or braise.

Spring Seed Wines are made from grapes lovingly grown in our family's organic vineyard, located in the premium wine region of McLaren Vale, South Australia. The vineyard was established in the early 1970s by Peter and Anthea Bosworth, and is now owned and run by their son Joch, who began the conversion to organic viticulture in 1995. Organic farming is based on minimising the use of external inputs, and as such our certified organic grapes are grown and processed without the use of synthetic chemicals or fertilisers.

The Spring Seed Wine labels are unashamedly inspired by vintage flower seed packets created at the turn of the 18th century. The colour, clarity and beauty of the original seed packets are quite remarkable. We chose three different flower images to adorn each one of our McLaren Vale wines, simply because they are quite lovely. The Scarlet Runner Shiraz displays the Hardy and Half Hardy Climbers, Centaurea (Centaurea nervosa) and Zinnia (Zinnia elegans) label.

Vintage 2015: We had a very early start to vintage in 2015, with generally mild conditions throughout. We had only a handful of hot days, which allowed natural acids to develop nicely. This was a very short, sharp vintage, with most winemakers finishing  their vintage well before Easter.  Yields were down, somewhere between 10 and 30% depending on variety.  Joch’s take on the whole thing? ‘Fast, early and pretty’.

WINEMAKING: We could never be accused of re-inventing the wheel here, when it comes to winemaking. Tried and tested methods tend to win out most of the time, with some exceptions. We picked the Shiraz grapes when they reached optimum ripeness and flavour. They were gently pressed and then transferred to open fermenters. Most of the grapes finish ferment in barrel, but some went straight  into stainless steel vessels. We don’t want oak to play the main role in this wine (or indeed any of our wines.) We do use some new oak barrels (these impart more toasty oak characters), but use mainly old barriques and hogsheads (300 litres). We bottle approximately 12 months after harvesting the grapes.

Technical Details
Alc/Vol: 14.5%
 

(SKU: 1387)