Description
Peter Schell and his French born wife Magali Gely started Spinifex back in 2001 – in a short time they have made a name for themselves as producers of fine elegant and sophisticated Barossa red blends. Peter hails from NZ originally but he and Magali are firm Barossaphiles with a great love of the ancient Barossa soils (100 million years old whereas in Bordeaux the soils date back to the last iceage 40,000-100,000 years) and the old vines. Inspired by time spent working many vintages in the south of France their love is the local varieties there – Mataro, Grenache, Shiraz and Cinsault. What sets them apart is their attention to detail and total hands on winemaking.
They are not interested in making blockbuster wines – they seek finesse and complexity (aromatics, line and length) in their wines…Sourcing small parcels of fruit from small family growers and their use of multiple small fermentation tanks allows them to ferment small parcels separately rather than pooling them – a very French technique – which means more ingredients to play with and absolute precision for blending.
‘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.
Spinifex’s 3.5-acre Moppa Shiraz source is in an elevated zone in the northwest, a site which has been producing exceptional Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro for Spinifex since 2005. Although the exact age of the vineyard is unknown, it is thought to be at least 80 years old. It has been managed organically for 40 of those years by a unique vigneron who grew up on the block and has the utmost respect for his vines. In 2015, when the right vintage presented itself, Schell released his first single-vineyard bottling. Fast-forward to this truly superb 2021 release, and you have a Shiraz that’s firing on all cylinders.
Hand-harvested fruit was fermented (with 30% whole bunches) in both wood and steel fermenters for between 10 and 24 days, then raised in a combination of puncheons, demi-muids and barriques (40% new). The wines were kept on light lees until racking and blending 20 months after harvest.
The result is a whole lot of wine for your money. Restrained Barossa power is balanced by perfectly pitched weight, structure, acidity and an incredibly persistent finish. It’s rich, deep, and a wee bit boisterous with abundant and complex flavours, seductive appeal and signature Spinifex balance. Modern Barossa at its best.
96 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review “Very deep, concentrated purple-red colour that stains the glass. Concentrated and powerful to sniff and taste with impressive depth of dark fruits, tar, bitumen dried herbs and black pepper; the palate is full-bodied and powerful, dense and rich, fleshy and profound with enduring length. Blackberry and licorice, a riot of flavour: it’s an exercise in power delivered with elegance. A very big and very young shiraz with a great future.”
95 points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front “This is a serious Barossa shiraz. Serious colour, serious depth, serious flavour. It’s a plush wine, ripped with cedarwood and violet, blackberry and saturated plum flavours, with runs of dark chocolate and spearmint purring throughout. There’s a deceptive amount of tannin here too; deceptive because it’s so velvety, and so well integrated into the fruit. This is a bold wine. Big. Soft. Rich. And emphatic.”
RRP $72 *Our Special Price $58.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine*
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