Wine maker Ben Riggs has been quite outstanding with the 2004 vintage, the Pennys Hill Shiraz winning awards, Bushing King and more. However, even given those awards, he says this is the best wine he's made, better than the 2004 Pennys Hill Shiraz! That would take some doing, but its hard to argue. This is stunning, full flavoured, McLaren Vale red wine at its best. Its a big wine, not high in alcohol, but loaded with flavour, all three varieties adding to the blend to create balance with intensity.
A spicy, fruity, specialized sweetmeat combination of dark, briary shiraz and dusky cabernet from the slightly elevated Penny's Hill vineyard blends with caramel sweet merlot from black Bay of Biscay soils nearer Gulf St Vincent, for a smooth, elegant and complex wine. Shiraz contributes fruit and spice character, Cabernet adds lean, fine tannins and soft, velvety Merlot adds fleshiness to the palate. Only the best parcels of each variety are selected for this low volume blend of "special character" which will gain complexity by time in the cellar. Up to 10 years.
- The colour is deep, dark, purple. On the nose is ripe plum, spice and floral notes with a toasty whiff. The wine bursts onto the palate with a lively crunchy berry flavour, a veritable starburst of fruit, with accompanying complex aromas and a harmonious balance of toasty oak, acid and tannins. Texturally, “Specialized” shows rich, savoury tannins on the finish with splendid length.
