Halo Range The Whole Bunch 'Syrah' 2022

Appearance: medium ruby with purple edges

Aroma: red cranberries, crushed red fruits of wild raspberries and strawberries, hints of baking spices, raspberry cane, crushed violets and lavender, red rose petals, plum skin

Palate: red currant, satsuma plum, black cherry, rhubarb, silky taut tannins, dark chocolate, Szechuan pepper, silky fine tannins with a sappy juicy finish, a savoury umami finish with a smokey line of salinity; great persistence constantly evolving to seduce

Cool, wet winter with a very high rainfall followed by a warm to hot and dry summer. The vines grew quickly, developing excellent canopies. Delayed bud burst, which affected flowering and gave lower yields. Good tannin ripeness (physiological ripeness) with deep colours in red grapes. This was a cool vintage, which allowed slow development of complex characters and beautiful acidities within the grapes.

Hand harvested early morning in mid-April, the fruit was cool when it arrived but further chilled for three days in a cool room. It was tipped as whole bunches into an open top fermenter and allowed to sit commencing carbonic maceration 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, silky tannins with vibrant colours for a total of 21 days on skins; the skins were then pressed gently, creating a wine of seductive fruit with a mouthcoating fine structure, taut and poised and undeniably Syrah.

Aged in 100% French oak (33% new) in 225L barriques and 300L hogsheads for 14 months on fine lees. The addition of longer lighter toast oak helped to frame the fruit and accentuate the silken grape tannins. Blending occurred with minimal fining and filtration. Bottled in August 2023, released March 2024.