This hails from two vineyards close to the Basket Range property. Deanery Vineyard in Balhannah is always picked first. Just seven kilometres to the east, it’s a warm site planted to clones i10v1 and Mendoza. Ali’s Vineyard, in the heart of the Piccadilly Valley, is eight kilometres southwest of the home vineyard. It is planted to i10v1 and g9v7 and grows intensely flavoured fruit with great acid drive, providing a nice complement to the ripe, juicy Deanery fruit. The parcels were pressed as whole bunches to barriques and puncheons (10% new) for fermentation and nine months’ maturation. The lees were occasionally stirred throughout to build mid-palate texture.
