Description
‘Pete and his partner Magali Gely operate what I think is the best new-wave of small-scale Barossa wine companies to emerge at the beginning of the 21st century… These weren’t big, blockbuster, showy wines designed to impress. They were wines that managed to take the best of the Barossa’s sometimes forgotten varietal traditions and fuse them onto a very European flavour sensibility.‘ Max Allen, The future makers.
‘It seems that Spinifex wines can do no wrong.’ Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front.
Shiraz Viognier put Spinifex on the wine map! In the words of winemaker Pete Schell ..”La Maline is the finest, most feminine Shiraz cuvee that we produce each year, co-fermented with a small portion of white grapes, typically Viognier. However! No white grapes went into this year’s blend—Pete felt his 2012 Shiraz fruit had quite enough perfume and lift as it was. Without any Roussanne, the ’12 La Maline is 100 per cent Shiraz drawn from three Eden Valley vineyards and three Barossa Valley vineyards ranging from 15 to 110 years of age (60 years old would be a fair average across the blend). The altitudes of these sites range from 550 metres above sea level, one of the highest in the Eden Valley, to 360 metres in the Barossa (still elevated in context of the Barossa where the valley floor is around 230-250 metres). Soils are variable but tend to be thin, silty sands over fractured and heavily weathered parent rock sub soils as well as gravel shot clays. The winemaking specs remain constant – natural ferments get the party started, there’s 30-40 per cent whole bunch, and the wine is raised in large format oak, with 30 per cent new across the wines before blending. The beautifully pure palate is super fine and bright, with tangy red fruits and then crushed herb, sappy hints keep the wine very fresh and racy. Lovely drive and length. All in all, an extraordinarily refined Barossa red of great finesse.
98 pts Halliday, The Wine Companion.. (the top rated wine in the Shiraz viognier category!)
“Whether Guigal and its stupendous La Mouline vineyard are pleased by the name, I don’t know. Deep, intense crimson; this takes the Spinifex ’12 shiraz trio onto an altogether different and higher level, black fruits the core of the profound bouquet and full-bodied palate with a tsunami of fruit, licorice, leather, verjuice, savoury/foresty tannins and oak.” Stock Is Limited
