Tasting Notes for Kalleske Buckboard Durif 2021 from the Winery

2021 Buckboard Durif is thick black in colour.

Forceful aromatics abound.  There is dark cherry, blackberry jam and ripe plum together with vanilla, chocolate and clove spice. 

The palate is immediately rich and intense.  Very full-bodied with bountiful black fruits dominating.  Complimenting the generous fruit is toasty oak.  Solid natural tannins are strong, adding structure and grip, working well with the ripe concentrated fruit.  This powerful, muscular wine is completed with a long, dry finish.  Buckboard is a compelling and seductive Barossa Durif that can be enjoyed now or over the next decade.

KALLESKE

The Kalleske vineyard and farm was established at Greenock in the Barossa’s North-West in 1853. For more than a century, the horse drawn ‘buckboard’ was indispensible on the farm. The buckboard buggy transported not only people but hauled produce and supplies to and from the farm, including countless loads of grapes. In the mid 1900s the horse was replaced with a motor and then the buckboard further evolved into a flat bed truck and eventually to the modern ute. Buckboard Durif is a single vineyard wine that’s been grown, vintaged and matured on the Kalleske property. Vigilant grapegrowing, traditional winemaking and maturation in new and seasoned American oak hogsheads has resulted in a powerful, full-bodied wine of great flavour and intensity.

GROWING SEASON

Vintage 2021 was an exemplary year with fine wines and good yields. Growing season rainfall was marginally below average and temperatures were mild ensuring vine canopies remained healthy. Vintage weather was absolutely perfect throughout, with dry mild-warm days and cool nights ensuring even and steady ripening across all varieties. There is strong colour and flavour across all the reds along with excellent structure and balance whilst the whites are bright, fresh and elegant.     

VINEYARD

Buckboard Durif is sourced from a single vineyard on the Kalleske property. The hand-pruned vines are low-yielding and are grown in shallow, sandy loam soil over superb deep red clay, providing ideal conditions for Durif.

WINEMAKING

The grapes were picked on March 31^st and April 8^th and then destemmed into open top fermenters. The must was native-yeast fermented for 9-12 days on skins with hand pump-overs twice a day. After pressing off skins the Durif was filled to a mix of 25% new and the balance used American oak hogsheads. The wine underwent natural malolactic fermentation in barrel. The Durif was matured in barrel for a year prior to bottling.

(SKU: KA_DUR_21)