Crayères Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2018

The 2018 vintage was a warmer than average vintage. Flowering conditions were good, but fruitset was average. Luckily the Crayères vineyard was spared from the November frost that damaged some vineyards in the Limestone Coast. The dry months of December, January and February restrained shoot growth and favoured smaller berries in the red varieties, and the yields were on average across all varieties.

The fruit was transported back to the Tiers winery in the Piccadilly Valley, Adelaide Hills before it was crushed and destemmed. The must was fermented in larger potter fermenters and smaller open-top fermenters. After fermentation and maceration, the must was pressed off skins and each variety went through malolactic in tank. At the end of malolactic in August 2018, the wines were racked and aged in French oak barrels (average of 21% new oak) for 9 months. The varieties were then blended to two old 4,000L French oak foudres and aged for a further 9 months. After a light egg fining in foudres, the wines were racked one more time in the blending tank, before bottling without filtration in mid June 2020.