With a pick and purpose like this the energy carries through to the winery and ultimately the wine. With this in mind we used some very subtle winemaking techniques to ensure the efforts in the vineyard were expressed in their truest form.

We picked 50 kilograms 4 days prior to the main harvest and used a French technique called ‘pied du cuve’ to ensure a healthy start for the native yeast. The remainder was hand-picked and destemmed but not crushed. The pied du cuve was ticking away nicely by this time and was tipped over the destemmed grapes. We tipped it on top so the CO2 immediately protects the main portion from oxidation during the ‘lag phase’ of the ferment and the fruit character is preserved.

We then allow the native yeast to build over the next two days and simply ‘wet the cap’ with 2 buckets of juice siphoned out and poured over the top. We then plunged twice a day for 4 days until the bé was around 3-4 when we went back to just wetting the cap. We did this so to avoid over extraction from the seeds as the alcohol increased. We pressed it directly to tank and allowed it to finish ferment.

The intention was not to put it to oak, however the malic acid was high and it seemed the wine needed the micro-ox of a puncheon barrel to help it through and soften the mouthfeel with some lees stirring (3 times over 3 weeks). Post malo and some time in barrel it still seemed tight on the palate. Considering the earlier release date we added 10 litres of lees from some pinot noir barrels we had racked. This didn’t affect it aromatically but helped to soften the palate to what you see now. It spent 6 and a half months in oak before being racked, sulphured and settled for bottling.

The wine tastes as it should. It tastes of this beautiful imaginary area called Mclaren Vale. It is alive and well. It tastes of the geology of the Inkwell Vineyard because the custodians of that land care about biology. We didn’t need to hack anything. The hacking had already been done, so thank you Dudley and Irina for allowing us to be a part of the future.