2024 Zinfandel
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"Dry grown, low yielding bush vines from our original Estate Vineyard can be prone to unruly behaviour! However, with great attention to detail these vines deliver an incredible layered wine of depth and power. A truly memorable experience."
Our founder, David Hohnen, fell in love with this variety whilst studying in the US in the early 70’s. He brought his new discovery home to be planted in 1974 on the Wallcliffe Estate Vineyard. This fickle variety demands great attention viticulturally, requiring a high bush vine trellis with plenty of space and air for the large compact bunches. It has become a cult classic for us, making a powerful yet fresh version of this ancient variety, enticing its followers each year to return and enjoy.
Nose
Complex aromas opening up with lavender oil, quince and maraschino cherries, underpinned by clove, nutmeg and sweet spices - evoking the classic hints of Christmas cake.
Palate
The structured palate presents a rich and concentrated profile, powerful yet precise. Notes of dried lavender, bramble, cacao, candied cherries and sweet, confit orange. The lingering finish of spice, fruit and warmth leaves you wrapped in a gentle hug!
Blend
95% zinfandel, 5% shiraz
Cellaring
Ready for enjoyment in its youth, this wine can also be cellared for 10 years and beyond.
Food Pairing Notes
Slow braised beef short ribs with a balsamic plum glaze.
Portobello mushroom steaks.
Blue cheese with spiced fig jam.
The Vineyard
Zinfandel is known as an iconic wine at Cape Mentelle but an unusual grape varietal for Margaret River. This brings challenges each year for our viticultural team as the large bunches are notoriously thin skinned, creating the risk for disease incidence during cooler vintages. This small block of zinfandel is located on our Estate Vineyard, just 4km from the Indian Ocean. Bush vines demand significant attention to detail with all tasks, such as canopy management, fruit thinning and shoot positioning, all carried out by hand. The aim is to produce grapes with a dense concentration of flavour and powerful expression of place. Vintage 2024 will be remembered as the season with barely any rain across the entire growing period and one of the region’s earliest starts to harvest. The fruit quality was excellent and the marri blossom abundant - which kept the birds at bay!
Winemaking
Zinfandel grapes were hand harvested mid-March to capture confectionary flavours from shrivelled berries and bright red fruit flavours from whole berries, along with ripe tannin. After destemming and hand sorting, the fruit was transferred by gravity to a small closed top fermenter with selected yeast. Daily tasting guided extraction and maceration, and after 22 days on skins it was gently basket pressed at the desired balance of concentration and structure. Integrating only the best pressings back to retain the powerful structure of zinfandel, the wine was matured in barrel for 15 months, with limited racking and 50% new French, American and Hungarian oak was used to build complexity. The final blend remained unfined and was filtered before bottling.
Analysis
15% alcohol
6.45 g/l total acidity
3.4 pH
Suitable for vegans