N2 Templates Project

Current vintage

2009

Scarce Earth is a McLaren Vale initiative exploring and celebrating the geological, climatic and soil diversity of our region. All wines under the Scarce Earth banner come from a single block of land with a unique flavour profile and personality. A judging panel assesses each wine to ensure that the site is expressed in the glass and that the wine is free of overt winemaking influences.

Appearance

Intense deep red with purple hues.

Bouquet

Plums, raspberries, mulberries, dark cherries meld with the complex aromas of cinnamon, cardamom and a musky perfume.

Palate

The palate is rich and full showing intense plum and dark cherries, with elegant savoury earthy tannins that round out the mid palate. The wine finishes with great balance and length, characterised by a depth and intensity only achievable with old vine fruit. The subtle integrated oak and textural tannins will soften as the wine ages, although it is also very approachable as a young wine.

Winemaking

The fruit was harvested by hand when the fruit flavours, grape tannins and acids reached maturity. Fermentation on skins was for 10 days in open top 4 tonne fermenters and hand plunged twice daily. Fermentation was completed in barrel to add complexity and integrate the wine . During maturation the wine was targeted with appropriate oak types to maximise its potential and produce interesting components to blend. Maturation was for 20 months in 3 year seasoned new French Oak barrels, sourced from coopers in both Bordeaux and Burgundy. During all stages of fermentation and maturation only the best barrels were selected for the final blend. Barrel selections were determined purely by quality.

Technical analysis

Ageing potential

Drinking best up to 2019 (and probably much longer). This wine should be decanted for up to 2 hours prior to consumption to allow the wine to open up and express itself fully.

Viticulturalist

Nick Wiltshire

Winemaker

Scott Zrna

Tasting notes

2009 Scarce Earth Old Vine Shiraz

2009 Scarce Earth Old Vine Shiraz in Large Print

Press Reviews

"The block that gave up its grapes for this wine was planted in 1910. The bouquet has a layered complexity of cherry, plum and violets with ferrous and spice (cardamom and cinnamon) notes. Deep flavours of blackberry, plum, spice and charcuterie are rich and concentrated, and the wine is remarkably light, not jammy. It's well-structured, with satin-like texture, fine-grained tannins and bright acid all working together in seamless harmony. This is available for pre-order and at the time of writing the label hadn't been finalised. 4.5 stars " Ben Thomas, The Weekley Review, 27th July 2011