Sur Echalas Seppeltsfield Barossa Valley Shiraz
‘Invenienda’ is inspired by the quest to plant our Holy Grail vineyard. The countless hours of research and exploration into the site and ensuing precision, viticultural techniques, has indeed been a journey of discovery. Our aim is to create a new benchmark for Australian wine that easily sits amongst the great wines of the world.
It offers an incredibly focused and modern style… this is a benchmark Barossa Shiraz to enjoy over the next two decades.
Angus Hughson, Vinous
The 2021 Invenienda release received a score of 97 points by Angus Hughson from wine publication Vinous.
Years in the making | A labour of love
“In September 2008, I acquired what I believed to be the best unplanted land in the Barossa Valley. For the next 9 years, I carefully planned every detail, to ensure I got the most of this special land when planted. I walked the land, month after month, year after year, and felt a small slice of the vineyard, with a lovely undulating slope to the South East was the best piece. Multiple soil reports and analysis confirmed my hunch, so I chose to keep it aside, to plant a truly exceptional vineyard, we now call ‘The Clos’, and to produce a new benchmark wine for Barossa Valley and in turn Australia. I am thrilled to present our ‘Invenienda’, it has been a total labour of love for the past 15 years.”
– Michael Twelftree, Proprietor
Composition & Design | Invenienda
We’ve chosen a special bottle produced by Saverglass called 1855, as it is the shape of the bottles used for the 1855 Bordeaux classification. The wine is sealed with a Diam 30 cork, a closure that will last for 30 years. The labels have 5 variations featuring a charcoal hand-drawn image of each of our beloved family of Scottish Highland cattlet hat guard and protect our ‘Clos’ and Holy Grail vineyard. The original of these drawings can be found adorning the walls of our Cellar Door, signed by esteemed Adelaide artist and long-time friend of Two Hands Dan Tomkins. The trio of bottles are housed in a bamboo timber box that has a glass-fronted lid and modelled on a cigar humidor to create the perfect environment as the wine ages in the cellar.
Second Release | 2021 Invenienda
COLOUR | Deep rich purple in colour with a slight red hue.
AROMA | An explosive bouquet of strawberry, rhubarb, clove, blood plum, mint, herb, cut flower, rosemary and leather. There is a lot going on here and every time you lift the wine to your nose, new aromas slowly emerge.
PALATE | The palate starts out dense and flavour filled, with blackcurrant, soy, tapenade, liquorice and mocha. Every element here works in perfect harmony which makes the fruit disappear across the palate effortlessly and seamlessly, the bright acidity drives the dense fruit profile.
Holy Grail Vineyard | The Clos Block
The ‘Holy Grail’ is our estate vineyard, situated amongst the palm tree lined Seppeltsfield Road in the Barossa Valley.
‘The Clos’ (pronounced KLOH), was the final block of vines to be planted at Holy Grail Vineyard in 2017 by our viticulture team. The block has been planted with two specific Shiraz clones. First, the ‘Prouse’ clone from Eden Valley and the second was the famous ‘Kalimna 3C’ clone from the Barossa floor. The block is situated on a relatively steep slope, where the vines are planted across the hill. This helps the team manage erosion control, and also allow the ease of spraying, pruning and picking! The Clos Block has 5,807 vines across 3.6 acres.
Trellis System | Sur Echalas
Invenienda is made with Shiraz sourced only from ‘The Clos’ block. The style of trellis is called ‘Sur échalas', and is all managed by hand. From bud-burst in Spring, the vines are individually tied to a 1.8-metre stake, three times throughout the Spring/Summer growing season until finally, the vines are joined together to the shape of a love heart at the top. Once the vine architecture is developed bunches of fruit are protected by a large solar panel of leaves, allowing them to achieve perfect maturity, slowly and effortlessly - think of them like a sun dial! This form of propagation is the ancient trellis system used in France’s venerated Northern Rhône Valley, where Syrah vines are planted and trained to a stake. ‘Sur échalas’ translates in English to ‘on a stake or pole’.
Winemaking | Hand Crafted
‘The Clos’ is one of the last blocks to be picked at the Holy Grail vineyard each season. The bunches are handpicked into small 20kg crates and placed in our refrigerated container for one day, to allow the fruit to cool down and control the start of fermentation. Head Winemaker Richard Langford had a number of small timber fermenters custom-crafted for Invenienda, to ensure a slow fermentation over 10 to 14 days. Once ferment is nearing completion, the skins are submerged with barrel heads and then sealed for a further 10 weeks, so the must can macerate and intensify the flavour. Richard and his team drain the free-run juice from the fermenters and the skins are pressed. The wine is then aged in fine-grained French oak sur lees for 16 months before bottling. The quality of fruit in the vineyard and care and attention to detail throughout the winemaking process means that the finished wine does not require fining and or filtering.
