The aim of the 2021 vintage was to source the best possible fruit we could. As fortune had it, an unrelated call prior to vintage to our now good mate Joel Mattschoss saw us doing some odd jobs around his amazing Wilton Hill property in a “work for fruit” type payment scenario.
As harvest was almost upon us,  the good fortune continued with a call from a mate to say “I’m at a vineyard down the road from you, the owner is out of picking bins, and the pickers have gone home. Do you like Pinot?” The following day we descend on some wonderful organically grown Pinot Noir, and after a bit of massaging throughout the year Eden Valley stallwart Mark Barthlemeus let us pick a little of his gnarly old 1919 Shiraz.
Along with our now allocated plot from Adrian Hoffmann, our 2021 Dero consists of the following…
A Barrique of 2020 Dero – After blending our 2020 wine we returned a blended Barrique to the cellar. This stood the test of time beautifully and is included in the 21 Blend.
Ebenezer – Adrian Hoffmann – Mickan Block DV Shiraz.
Eden Valley – Joel Mattschoss – Wilton Hill Old Vine & Block 14 Shiraz.
Eden Valley – Mark Barthlemeus – Old Vine 1919 Shiraz.
Eden Valley – Tony Walker – Marden Springs Pinot Noir.
The above fruit was all handpicked in 400 to 1500kg parcels ranging from 11.5-15 beaume. The largest parcel was broken down into three separate ferments with most going through long slow whole clusters fermentations – with a small parcel open fermented.
The wine was then filled to French Oak Barriques to rest in our cool cellar for around 16 months and blended towards the end of winter 2022, shortly after 2685 bottles were filled unfined and unfiltered with only a small so2 addition prior to bottling.
We sincerely thank you for your support and hope you enjoy it!
xx Ben Kelley & Family.
***PLEASE NOTE: THE DERO BAG IS THE LABEL & IS INTENDED NOT TO BE REMOVED!
*Larger formats of this wine are available in small quantities. Please contact us if you wish to purchase one.