The Barossa Valley had two vintages in one year in 2015. Winter rainfall was solid, but some heavy rain followed the driest spring for nearly a decade in early January, with the coolest temperatures I can remember for some time. February was a return to normal with extensive hot weather. All varieties ripened rapidly in February so we began picking. Temperatures fell sharply,in March, which settled the mad rush February saw in winery. In general the reds are strongly coloured and richly flavoured. The fruit for this wine was picked over 2 weeks ensuring a range of fruit at differing baume and ripeness levels which enable individual parcels to be blended together as all batches were kept separate. We then crushed, de-stemmed and left on skins in open top fermenters for 8-10 days. A slow ferment then occurred with temperatures ranging from 15-18C, the wine had open pump-overs to ensure fruit intensity. Once fermentation was completed the wine was pressed into old French barrels that were re-shaved to give a touch more definition. The wine spent 12 months in oak to mature until I felt the time was right to bottle. Final barrel selection ensured excellent quality batches were selected for the final blend before bottling with minimal fining or filtration.