Tasting notes : Black Craft Shiraz
Black Craft Shiraz. A compelling, dark and rich chocolatey beast. This is a classic Barossa Shiraz with intense savoury flavours. Thick blackberry compote, black pepper and typical iron-rich beefy flavours. Not a hint of jam here, no sweetness. This is serious Shiraz for grown-ups with balanced acidity, a touch of cocoa powder in the finish and tremendous length.
Food Pairing :
As the name implies, black is the key – anything chargrilled would be superb here, so think griddle pans and barbecues!
Producer/Region :
This Shiraz is sourced from the finest available vineyard sites across the premium Northern Barossa Valley including for the most part Greenock, Western Ridge and Ebenezer. Aged 11 months in a variety of oaks, all American and French, new and old, around 35% new. All oaks were AP John, Barossa coopered. As usual with Smalltown, it was fermented in open fermenters. They don’t set the blades too close together during crushing so a fair bit of whole berry in the ferment which gives the wine generous fruit and soft tannins.
Smalltown Vineyards express many of the Barossa’s prized districts form Gomersal, Kalimna as well as the Eden Valley and beyond. They work with exceptional vineyards simply expressed using minimal intervention, basket press where relevant, natural ferments in open top fermenters to best capture the Barossa’s magical flavours .We have a lot of fun with labels because, well because they can. It’s only wine after all…
As of the 1st July, 2019, Australia changed from its previous sustainable programme called EntWine to Sustainable Winegrowing Australia. Smalltown Vineyards is a participant in this programme, which assists with tools and resources to enhance business sustainability, meeting customer sustainability requirements and sustainability claims made by participants.
Australian wine consumers will also benefit from consistent communication underpinned by such a technically robust scheme.
