2022 Dandelion Vineyards Lioness of McLaren Vale Shiraz

Lioness of McLaren Vale is sourced from Angus and Helen Tuck's vineyard located in the subregion of Bakers Gully. Here mature Shiraz vines populate or perish, in the ironstone pebble laden clay loam, over ancient Kurrajong Formation geology, a silica cemented conglomerate most suited to grow Shiraz. After hand picking whole bunches of our Lioness of McLaren Vale in mid-March our winemaker Elena Brooks let the whole bunches ferment together in open top fermenters with ambient yeasts and hand plunging for 12 days, before basket pressing into some new (20%) but predominately older French Oak barriques, to the mature for a further 18 months in the same oak, before bottling without fining or filtration to capture the essence of the vineyard. Although ready to drink the Lioness of McLaren Vale will also reward cellaring and decanting. Awards: Women’s Wine & Spirits Awards 2024 – Double Gold Medal Wine Pilot (Jan 2024) – 92 Points The Real Review, Stuart Knox (Dec 2023) – 91 Points, Silver