Peter Lehmann | Stonewell Shiraz 2018

Lifted powerful blackberry fruit, dark chocolate, raspberry, crushed rocks, and a hint of smoky oak char on the nose. A palate of rich plums, spiced fruitcake, a slight minty freshness, and an oily/inky mouthfeel with a long & fine-grained tannic structure over a long, sumptuous finish. In short, everything is in its right place, and it will be exciting to see how this wine continues to develop.

When Peter Lehmann started making wine in 1980, a large focus was placed on the Australian signature variety – Shiraz. Over the following years, he noted that, although the local vineyards consistently produced high-quality fruit, only a few were producing exceptional fruit of intense and robust flavours. Those special grapes, affectionately named ‘Little Black Jewels’ by Lehmann, were sourced and crafted into what we now know as Stonewell. Their ‘Little Black Jewels’ are picked when they are slightly riper to increase colour and create greater depth and mouthfeel. Fruit from the best Shiraz vineyards is kept separate during crushing and early barrel maturation until the annual vintage classification, where intense colours and concentrated flavours are seen as potential Stonewell varieties. As the story goes, Peter Lehmann and Andrew Wigan had to hide the wine to allow for optimum ageing to occur over a five-year period. Sourced from vineyards in the Light Pass, Nuriootpa & Moppa districts from selected parcels belonging to five of Peter Lehmann's valuable growers. Some of these vines are circa 60+ years old and dry-grown. The grapes are picked in the cool of the night and crushed immediately into stainless steel fermenters for 7-12 days. After pressing off skins, the wine is then matured in new and older hogsheads for 15 months prior to fining, filtration and bottling. The wine rests in their temperature-controlled warehouse for four more years prior to labelling and release.

The Stonewell is built to match rich meat dishes. Char-grilled medium rare scotch fillet with a creamy mushroom sauce, served with roasted baby carrots and duck-fat chat potatoes would be the ultimate heavenly pairing.