Current Vintage: 2023

THE WINE
Distinctive 54:46 Cinsault and Mourvèdre blend is drawn from Growers the Sonntag Estate Family Vineyards in the heart of Stone Well Barossa Valley,
Crafted from a cool, low-yielding vintage, it’s a lesson in how serious, and how seriously delicious, great rosé can be. Sculpting the wine’s vinous, mouth-filling texture, there’s a surge of fresh redcurrant acidity and mineral verve, while the length of flavour is second to none. Drink it now, for obvious reasons, or cellar for a few years, when you’ll find it more mineral nuance and complex structure.

THE VINTAGE
Barossa’s 2023 vintage was 3-4 weeks later than the ‘new normal’ of the past 20 years. Similar to, but even later than, 2002. Due to a combination of Negative IOD and La Niña climatic patterns, Barossa’s spring rainfall was one of the wettest on record, with an additional 131% more rain than the long-term average. Barossa experienced 53 rain days in Spring. Overall, the growing season saw average soil moisture and strong budburst.
– Wine Barossa Barossa.com
Although the 2023 vintage was anxious to wait for vintage to start, the cool nights and cooler days and no extreme heatwaves meant the fruit was ripening slowly which is good. With sugars not rising quickly the acids are able to be retained and not drop as quickly maintaining freshness on the vine and allowing things to come into balance. – Michael Papps

LOCATION
Cinsault and Mourvèdre blend is drawn from Growers the Sonntag Estate Family Vineyards in the heart of Stone Well Barossa Valley, stunning slopes set amid the gums-covered hilltop of the Stone Well sub-region of the Barossa Valley.

TERROIR

At 285 metres above sea level, and it enjoys the freshness and cool nights that altitude brings as well as the moderating breezes. It’s not only the elevation that makes this vineyard so unique, a peculiar soil type predominates pink quartz and underlying limestone ridge.

AGEING
In the cellar, the Mourvèdre component is picked first, with several hours of skin contact bringing more vibrancy, complexity, and chalky tannin structure.
Cinsault is picked and pressed directly, bringing elegance, perfume and balance. Wild yeast fermented, the two varieties are kept separate on lees before blending together, and the wine is raised exclusively in tank for six months.

VARIETALS
54:46 Cinsault and Mourvèdre blend

SERVING
14 degrees in the tasting glass.

TASTING NOTES
“Light, vivid orange. Mineral-accented citrus pith, red berry and succulent floral and herb scents, along with a spicy top note. Chewy and sharply focused in the mouth, offering well-concentrated strawberry, bitter cherry, blood orange, honeysuckle Densely packed, with the mineral and floral notes carrying through a long, precise finish. If there ever was a wine, to sit under a beautiful tree and enjoy with friends, this is the one
12.7% alc cellar for a further 3-8 years