2023 Dry Red

A winter sibling to the Light Dry Red. Medium-bodied and more-ish, and mostly Syrah. The base wine is the Light Dry Red, and the Dry Red sees a longer elevage, and more 'conventionally' macerated dry red wine added to the final blend. Made, of course, in the cool cellars at Cobaw Ridge; My sincere thanks go to Alan & Nelly Cooper, fellow Cobaw Ridge vintage-hands Mahmood Fazal and Andy Ainsworth, and my main consultant and good friend Joshua Cooper, without whom I couldn’t have made this ...Read More...

A winter sibling to the Light Dry Red. Medium-bodied and more-ish, and mostly Syrah. The base wine is the Light Dry Red, and the Dry Red sees a longer elevage, and more 'conventionally' macerated dry red wine added to the final blend. Made, of course, in the cool cellars at Cobaw Ridge; My sincere thanks go to Alan & Nelly Cooper, fellow Cobaw Ridge vintage-hands Mahmood Fazal and Andy Ainsworth, and my main consultant and good friend Joshua Cooper, without whom I couldn’t have made this wine. The syrah fruit was handpicked on April 17th 2023, from the NASAA-organic-certified Chapoutier vineyard in the Pyrenees - the Saddleback vineyard in particular, a great site, south easterly aspect on a steep hillside.  The Dry Red followed an identical process in the beginning to the Saeke "Light Dry Red," released late last year for summer....

After handsorting, the fruit was destemmed and a short three day maceration concluded apace. The wine was gently basket-pressed to old oak where a natural ferment proceeded. Barrels were topped with rosé wine as well as extra added rosé wine from the same vineyard. 

Following malolactic fermentation in the spring, syrah wine from the same vineyard with a more 'conventional' maceration was added for colour, tannin and general all-around deliciousness. While the LDR was bottled, I held one barrel back for this wine, to see a slightly longer elevage before final racking to tank, an addition of more Syrah from the same vineyard, as well as a soupçon of organic-certified cabernet sauvignon from Shay's Flat in the Pyrenees (vinified by Joshua Cooper), from the 2024 vintage. This added more colour, depth and tannin - a cool-weather-cousin or complement if you will, to the 'main' summer release. 

No additions were made at any stage, aside 30ppm of SO2 at bottling, and the wine was, of course, un-fined and unfiltered. 528 bottles were filled. - Jez Shiell, Winemaker. 

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