Deep crimson with some brick red hues.

Complex bouquet with aniseed, violets and prune flavours with just a hint of smokey vanillin.

The rich palate exhibits abundant rhubarb and plum fruit seamlessly integrated with the spicy cedar characters of oak finishing long, warm and full of flavour.

A wine to enjoy now or cellar for up to 8 years.

Grapes were picked in mid April 1998 under very dry and warm conditions with very little rain, which allowed the grapes to reach a high sugar content. The must was cold macerated on skins for 24 hours before yeast inoculation and fermented for 8-12 days at 22°C. The fermentation was "headed down" to keep the skins in contact with the juice at all times. 70% of the blend finished fermentation in new French and American oak barrels, and oak matured for 16 months prior to bottling in December 1999.

14.0%