Athene



Blend: 52% Syrah, 48% Cabernet Sauvignon


Analysis:

Alcohol: 14.5 % | PH: 3.74| Titratable acidity: 6.2 g/L


Bottling Date: August 2018


Cellaring: 76% French oak, 14% American, 5% Hungarian, 5% Russian, with 17% new


Tasting Notes:

A complex spicy, powerful and intense mix of fruit and savoury elements. Blackberry and cassis fruit dominate, joined by black plum, black cherry and some cherry chocolate liqueur along with complex black pepper, violet, custard and some burlap and dried herbal notes. Full bodied with lovely ripe tannins and balanced acidity the cassis and blackberry fruit is joined by paprika infused dark chocolate cake, pastry crust, graphite and sage with some leather on the long finish. Pair this with garlic and rosemary studded leg of lamb or grilled portobello mushroom with a paprika and dried herb butter.

Wine Making:

Ten years after the fabulous 2006 vintage, we were offered another amazing growing season in 2016. Spring arrived early: sunny and warm with just enough showers to boost vine canopy growth. July and August added ideal summer heat, ripening the grapes slowly. Lively and aromatic whites were picked during a dry September month while red grapes benefited from warm days and cool nights to fully develop their flavours while retaining their acidity. The Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were harvested by hand from Burrowing Owl’s block A8 on Black Sage Bench on November 7th. They were de-stemmed and gently crushed before being gravity fed into the same tank. This co-fermentation process helped to marry the flavours and created a unique harmony to the blend according to Aristotle’s principle that “the whole is greater than the sum of its part”. After completion, the wine was transferred into barrels for the malolactic fermentation. It was aged for 18 months into oak barrels that were carefully selected for their ability to integrate components, and round out the tannins while contributing to complex savoury notes. The wine was bottled unfiltered and left to mature in bottle until its release.

PDF Download

Individual Bottle Images

Large (175 KB) small (364 KB)

label Bottle Images

medium (175 KB)