Invitational Frankland River Shiraz 2022
BLOOD PLUM • STAR ANISE • POACHED CHERRY
Forged from a season of extremes yet tempered by periods of cool ripening, this first effort of Shiraz from the Swinney Vineyard speaks clearly of ancient rich ironstone soils, and wind-swept ruggedness. Lifted dark, brooding yet floral and enticing, this purple fruited refined wine has plushness, power and freshness, with a firm backbone and finely chiseled framework to bloom with age. 750ml
Accolades
95 points, The Real Review
Deep, brooding red-purple colour with a reserved but clean and fresh bouquet, subtle black fruits, which turn very intense and ripely sweet on the palate, highlighting blackberry and some juiciness. Full bodied. The sweet fruit centre marks this as a wine from a sunnier clime than the other two Duke's shirazes from 2022. (Grapes from the Swinney Vineyard)
93 points, Halliday Wine Companion
The fruit for this wine is sourced from Swinney vineyard. Quite a brooding, dark-fruited red here. The perfume sets off with ripe cherry, mocha, toast and hazelnut aromas with a slightly ferrous, minerally undertow. Similar to taste, the oak profile a touch splintery while dark, inky, plummy, warm/breathy fruit with choc-mocha and nuttiness rolls around with authority. Sumptuous wine, is the message, a quibble about the warmth and oak profile are the value-add comments.
Appearance: dark intense black cherry, deep magenta
Aroma: intense lifted purple flowers, violets, lavender, ripe blueberry, boysenberry, dark density of hints of fresh herbs, cedar fire hearth
Palate: wild blueberry fruits, juicy dark chocolate, garigue, dark chocolate tannins, complete, fine, peacock feather finish, refined yet firm, red ferrous earth
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 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.
Selectively harvested late evening in early April, the fruit was cool when it arrived at the winery. It was then tipped as whole berries into an open top fermenter and allowed to cool. Yeast was added after several days of cold soak. Once liquid was released and the cap could be submerged, the tank was hand plunged 1-3 times daily until dryness. Some post-ferment maceration ensued for complexity and structure, building complete tannins with vibrant colours for a total of 18 days on skins. The skins were then pressed gently using a basket program with no rotations to minimise tannin extraction.
Aged in 100% French oak with 38% new (medium long toast to elevate freshness and fruit) , the balance seasoned utilising 300L hogsheads and 228L barriques, for 14 months on fine lees. The tight grained oak from Alleir, Jupilles and Tronçais forests gave fine framing lifting the fruit.
- Vintage 2022
- Alcohol 14.5%
- Vineyard Swinney Vineyard, Frankland River
- Varietal Shiraz
- Bottling date August 2023
- Region Great Southern, Western Australia
- Sub-region Frankland River
- Residual sugar <2 g/l
- pH 3.74
- Acidity 6.2 g/l