Vintage 2021 was an exemplary year with fine wines and good yields. Growing season rainfall was marginally below average and temperatures were mild ensuring vine canopies remained healthy. Vintage weather was absolutely perfect throughout, with dry mild-warm days and cool nights ensuring even and steady ripening across all varieties. There is strong colour and flavour across all the reds along with excellent structure and balance whilst the whites are bright, fresh and elegant.
Vineyard
Kalleske JMK Shiraz VP is sourced from select blocks of the Kalleske vineyard. The vineyard consists of shallow, sandy loam soil over superb deep red clay and limestone, providing ideal conditions for Shiraz vines.
Winemaking
The grapes were harvested on March 17th and then fermented in an open top fermenter with hand pump-overs twice a day. Sweetness and flavours of the fermenting grapes were closely monitored and when at desired levels, at 5 days after harvest, grape spirit was added, arresting the fermentation to retain some natural grape sweetness. A combination of young and old (up to 23 years) brandy spirit was used to fortify the wine, ensuring added complexity. The wine was pressed off skins after 21 days and then matured in well-seasoned hogsheads for 4 months. At this time, only the very best barrels were selected to be included in the bottling of this liqueur Shiraz.