Halo Range The Whole Bunch Shiraz 2021
The '21 Whole Bunch is a delicate, aromatic and light version of a Shiraz that drinks like a Pinot Noir. Handpicked from our best Shiraz fruit, The Whole Bunch was foot-stomped, aged in seasoned oak, and displays a savoury richness lifted by floral potpourri and complete tannins. Beautiful now but also with serious ageing potential. Very limited supply. 750ml.
CHINESE FIVE SPICE • RED DELICIOUS APPLE • PEACOCK TAIL TANNINS
Accolades
96 points, Wine Pilot
This is a result of an experiment that started in 2018. It was foot stomped and no new oak used. It’s made with a Pinot Noir approach and as a result has a lovely Pinot like weight and perfume. It’s fresh and slightly sappy with grainy tannins and a firmish core. It’s made as a delicate and aromatic expression of Shiraz, yet it has the structure to handle extended cellaring. I have to say I like the wine a lot.
95 points, The Real Review
A lighter colour for a young shiraz: medium depth purple-red, more like pinot than shiraz. The first sniff reveals stemmy whole-bunch ferment high notes, peppery and dried-herby. The wine is full-bodied and ripe, deep and brooding, with fine-grained tannins that supply its backbone. A surprising wine, which will no doubt build more complexity as the stemmy notes mellow. The palate is very long and refined. Don't judge it by its depth of colour! A delicious and very elegant shiraz.
93 points, James Halliday Wine Companion
A fragrant, silky shiraz set just over medium bodied and layered with floral elements, clove and cinnamon spice, sweet cherry juice and touches of flinty minerality. It's bold in perfume, inviting, ripe and lifted with lavender and green herb notes. The palate follows well, more meat on the bones: softly red-berry fruited with more floral suggestions, that clove-cinnamon spice mix and a swish of twiggy/stemmy seasoning shot through. Quite gentle in its feel, there's a calmness and beautiful flow to the wine. Pleasing drinking.
92 points, Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The 2021 The Whole Bunch Shiraz is very light in the glass and aromatic, with notes of orange peel, lavender, Campari, lantana, rose petals and blackberry bramble. In the mouth, the wine has a febrile nature—spicy, edgy, exotic. Foot stomped and matured in seasoned French oak.
Halliday Top 5 Star Winery
Halliday defines top five-stars as "Outstanding winery regularly producing wines of exemplary quality and typicity"
Appearance: medium red with magenta edges
Aroma: crushed red berries of wild raspberries and strawberries, hints of sage, raspberry cane, red cherry, red rose petals and spring flowers
Palate: bright red cherry, rhubarb, crushed velvety tannins, sweet basil, dark chocolate, liqueur cherry, Chinese five spice, rounded fine tannins with a sappy juicy finish, ripe red berry compote finish with a delicate line of salinity doused with red currants; stays long on the mind and the palate; intriguing!
Deep winter rains were welcome relief after two drought seasons giving way to an earlier bud burst with a slow steady growth of canopy producing a wall of leaves to ripen a balanced crop. Rains in mid-February and early March necessitated canopy work to give good airflow and light penetration easing disease risk. Warm conditions with warm breezes concentrated the red fruit giving full physiological ripeness of tannin and colour but still with the trademark thread of minerality that gives longevity and freshness to all the wines from the estate.
Hand harvested early morning in early April, the fruit was cool when it arrived at the winery. It was tipped as whole bunches into an open top fermenter and allowed to sit cool before being foot trodden (pigéage) over several days. Once liquid was released and the cap could be submerged, the tank was hand plunged 1-2 times daily until dryness. Some post-ferment maceration ensued for complexity and structure, building complete tannins with vibrant colours for a total of 16 days on skins; the skins were then pressed gently, creating a wine of explosive fruit with a mouthcoating fine structure, both silky yet firm.
Aged in 100% French oak all seasoned from 2017 and 2018 for 300L hogsheads and two 2018 barriques, for 14 months on fine lees. The older larger older oak put the grape tannins on display rather than oak. Blending occurred with no fining and minimal filtration. Bottled in August 2022, released March 2023.