2022 Dave's Block Blewitt Springs Shiraz

COLOUR | Rich dark purple to black.

AROMA | Boisterous fruit, toasted caramel, preserved red fruit, milk chocolate, aniseed, iodine, red cherries, fresh plum, and olive lift from the glass.

PALATE | From the very first sip, the palate is enveloped with a sweet core of depth. Mulberry and blackberry fruits glide smoothly, caressing the mouth as if in slow motion, building an elegant, lingering presence. The wine displays a captivating nerve, as its fruity generosity stretches gracefully through soft, velvety tannins. What stands out most is the delicate, stony mouthfeel that emerges after the wine spends time in a well-set decanter.
With its dusty tannins, layers of black olive, and hints of satsuma plum, it delivers a mouthwatering finish that lingers with a tea tree note. This wine will age slowly and beautifully, rewarding those who have the patience to let it evolve over the long term.

After our second La Niña year in a row, the vineyards received an above average winter rainfall, we then progressed into a very mild spring and an equally mild summer with only one day recorded over 40°C. Due to slightly later flowering, the vines were set up to mature at a slower than usual pace, this put the start of vintage back around 3 weeks on average, these mild ripening conditions allowed for slower than usual favour development, this matched with lower yield across the board has resulted in another quality harvest.

WINEMAKING | This block was crushed and de-stemmed into a stainless steel open top fermenter. The time spent on skins was 10 days. All free run and pressings were combined in tank and racked off gross lees to barrel, where malolactic fermentation occurred. 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. 3 barrels were bottled in November the following vintage.

CLOSURE | Diam Cork
VOLUME | 750ml
VARIETAL | Shiraz
ALCOHOL (% vol.) | 14.8%
REGION | McLaren Vale
SUB-REGION | Blewitt Springs
VINE AGE | 54 years
ALTITUDE | 152m
AVERAGE RAINFALL | 675mm
SOIL | Deep bleached white sand overlying mottled orange clay.

Wine Advocate
96 points
Erin Larkin
Published October 2024

"The 2022 Dave’s Block Blythmans Road Blewitt Springs is in possession of all the silky McLaren Vale fruit: black cherry, raspberry, a little bit of licorice and star anise, red apple skins and some pressed incense. In the mouth, the wine is inky and densely packed with silty tannin. A classy wine here, albeit bottled in extremely heavy glass—just over two kilograms when full."