2021 Cleo's Block Shiraz - Two Hands Wines

2021 Cleo's Block Shiraz

Name: 2021 Cleo's Block Shiraz
Brand: Two Hands Wines
SKU: SVCLE217DOM
Price: 125.0 AUD
Availability: InStock

Sale price $125.00

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Two Hands Cleo’s Block Shiraz is a rare Single Vineyard Shiraz produced only in the 2021 vintage, introduced alongside Ziggy’s Block as a one-off addition to the Two Hands Single Vineyard Series. Sourced from a small section within our Holy Grail vineyard, this wine captures the detail, power and individuality of one of our most cherished Barossa sites.

The block is planted to Heritage Clone, an older original Shiraz clone introduced to Australia and propagated from a famous Clare Valley vineyard originally planted in 1891. This rare vine material brings its own character to Holy Grail, adding depth, structure and a distinct sense of history to the wine.

The label features Cleo, our much-loved Scottish Highland cow, making this release personal and unmistakably Two Hands. In the glass, Cleo’s Block offers dark fruit, spice, savoury detail and fine tannin, with richness, texture and the distinctive presence of Marananga Shiraz.

Tasting Notes

COLOUR | Thick and dense black.

AROMA | A very strong bouquet of warm oil, incense, pipe smoke, lavender, cassis, asian spice, creosote, warm bark and fresh plum spring from the glass.

PALATE | The palate starts out flowing with an initially sweet core of boisterous and impenetrable fruits. This wine pitches high in the mid palate, and then starts to slide down the back side of the late palate. This finishes lush, concentrated and very long, with flavours of boysenberry and blackberry liqueur. The massive fruit here does fit with the under lying structure, this is quintessential Barossa Valley shiraz from the Western Ranges. With aeration, this wine really starts to evolve, more spice notes of mocha and rhubarb appear. The palate evens out and the tannins start to show a very linear and mineral edge. This wine has excellent length and will offer great pleasure for many years to come.

The Growing Season

The 2021 vintage will be remembered as one of the greats, with near-perfect conditions delivering balance, purity, and energy across every vineyard. While consistency was the hallmark of the year, one block at our Holy Grail vineyard stood out above the rest our 'Chave' block, planted in 2016 on its own roots from prized Wendouree cuttings. Covering just over 5 acres with 4,605 vines, this block showed remarkable character in 2021, producing fruit of such intensity and individuality that it was deemed worthy of a standalone bottling. It is a striking example of how heritage genetics, site, and season can come together to create something truly special.

Vinification

WINEMAKING | One small parcel from the Holy Grail vineyard was de-stemmed into 5T stainless steel fermenter. Gently pumped over 2-3 times daily, this parcel was pressed after an average time on skins of 10 days. All free run and pressings were combined in tank and was then racked off to barrel, to go through malolatic fermentation. The wine was bottled with minimum fining and no filtration.

MATURATION | 18 months in up to 50% new French oak and 2/3 year old hogsheads. Bottled in November the following vintage.