2008 Kaesler Stonehorse Shiraz

Kaesler has a very long history of grape growing, with vines dating back to 1893, 1899, 1930 and the 1960’s. The ‘New Kaesler’ was acquired in the late 90’s after a chance dinner in Bordeaux with winemaker Reid Bosward and Swiss banker Edourd Peter. The story goes that after three bottles of 1985 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Edourd asked Reid, "how much would it cost to set up a winery in Australia?" The answer was around one million dollars. Prior to selecting the Kaesler blocks, Reid had looked to acquire a vineyard in the Napa Valley, Southern France, Marlborough and other areas of Australia prior to settling on the Barossa Valley. The ambition was to make powerful wines, and this was achieved by lowering yields and reducing the amount of water applied in the growing season.

The Stonehorse Shiraz is made to emphasise the fruit characteristics with complementary barrel maturation. The oak is designed to support and add structure to the palate without compromising the drinkability of the wine. The fruit for this wine was sourced from six different vineyards with vines aged between 15-45 years. Maturation took place in older oak barrels (approximately 3 years old) for a period of 12 months.

Excellent colour saturation with totally opaque black very dark red colour with black heart and deep dark red black hue. Perfumed nose with aromas of liquorice and confectionary followed by blackberry and blackpepper notes. Big generous palate favours of liquorice, blackberry, dark plum and confectionary followed by some strong blackpepper characters on the back palate that persist through to the aftertaste. Very mouthflling showing excellent fruit concentration and exuberance. Fine grained tannin structure with long aftertaste of liquorice, blackberry and blackpepper.
Cellar 2-3 years (2012-2013)
Alc 14.5%