ONDINE SHIRAZ 2008

The combination of spices, like cinnamon and cloves, and berries in this wine is well enjoyed with raspberries or other berries in one of many ways. Try fresh raspberries and camembert as a snack or combine lettuce of your choice with raspberries, a mild cheese and vegetables such as cooked beetroot. Or add Stonehill Blueberry olives to a basic salad and combine some of the blueberry brine from the olives with olive oil and drizzle as a dressing over the salad. Pork or beef fillet will also complement the wine beautifully. Make a summer salad meal with pan-fried pork fillet on a bed of rocket with raspberries, pecorino shavings and olive oil.

Shiraz is a highly adaptable cultivar, creating a presence  in many wine producing regions.  Shiraz can be used to produce very  extracted wines complete with high alcohol,  over ripe fruit and an ominous presence of charred barrel aromas.  We do believe that Shiraz has a unique varietal character that comes to the fore with the Darling appellation.

Description:    This wine has an interesting bouquet  of wild   berries, spice and cloves, supplemented with raspberry flavour on a well balanced palate, laced   with ripe tannins.

Style:     Dry Red Wine

Varieties:    100% Shiraz

Vinification:    The grapes were handpicked at 23.5°B, with special care given to the berries before picking.  Cooling before fermentation allowed for good colour extraction  and slow fermentation.  The wine was soaked  for  fourteen days on the skin, where after the wine was separated from the skins and pips.  The  wine was aged in barrels for eleven months, 45 % new. Sylvain   cooperage barrels being most prominent.

Analysis:  ALC:  14.5%; TA:  5.6 g/l;  RS:  2.8 g/l;  PH: 3.54