Penny's Hill Skeleton Key McLaren Vale Shiraz 2019 (Australia)

Penny's Hill Skeleton Key McLaren Vale Shiraz 2019 (Australia)French oak Blue berry fruit Milk chocolate Fine tannins "A stunning rendition offering black blueberry, spicy oak, dark cocoa and violet aromas on the nose, followed by a concentrated palate displaying awesome power and persistency. It's velvety and flowing, making it hugely appealing. At its best: 2037" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Sep 2021 A true reflection of its terroir, this wine shows perfume and spice, coupled with vibrant red cherry and blue berry

• French oak
• Blue berry fruit
• Milk chocolate
• Fine tannins

"A stunning rendition offering black/blueberry, spicy oak, dark cocoa and violet aromas on the nose, followed by a concentrated palate displaying awesome power and persistency. It's velvety and flowing, making it hugely appealing. At its best: 2037" Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Sep 2021

A true reflection of its terroir, this wine shows perfume and spice, coupled with vibrant red cherry and blue berry fruits and underlying notes of milk chocolate and anise. Subtle oak spice plays a supporting role and adds a layered complexity. The palate has a high level of fruit intensity, showing depth and concentration. This tightly structured wine has great finesse, purity and elegance; its fine tannins have focus, direction and length to charm. Ready to drink, but will cellar for 8+ years.

A deliberately long-aged expression of the cumulative best of the McLaren Vale vineyard site, Skeleton Key is cellard and carefully bottle aged before it is unlocked.

Slightly higher elevation (140mtrs) means the original Penny’s Hill Vineyard enjoys a climate a little cooler than the rest of McLaren Vale. This ensures more consistent temperatures throughout the ripening period, allowing Shiraz to reach optimum ripeness with minimum stress. Planted in 1991 with clone 1654, Penny’s Hill Shiraz benefits demonstrably from a high density, narrow-row layout which sees less crop load per vine than is usual in the region.

Individual shiraz blocks from the Penny’s Hill Vineyard site were harvested and vinified separately to best express the variations in terrior. Blocks were harvested between the 1st and 5th of March and fruit parcels were fermented on skins in open fermenters for 10 days. Maturation was in the finest French oak barriques, of which 40% were new and remaining 1-3 year old oak. After 18 months, the wine was barrel selected and blended to best showcase the complexities and diversity of the Penny’s Hill Vineyard site.