Thistledown, Silken Beastie Shiraz, Barossa Valley, Australia, 2018

Producer Profile

Masters of Wine, Giles Cooke & Fergal Tynan, founded Thistledown Wines in 2010 after discovering iconic vineyard sites in the McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills.

They make hand-made, small batch wines that perfectly illustrate the benefits of great sites and intelligent, minimalist winemaking.

Viticulture

Drawing on fruit from Ebenezer, Kalimna and Koonunga regions of north west Barossa, fruit was characteristically picked on the way up rather than the way down with a proportion hand picked and retained as whole bunches in the ferment.

Winemaking

The remaining fruit was gently destemmed to leave whole berries before a native yeast ferment with twice daily hand plunges to aid gentle extraction. Each component part was aged separately for 6 months prior to blending and then a further 12 months in 300l French oak, of which 30% was new. The wine was then bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Oak Ageing

Time: 12 Months
Type: 300l French Oak
% wine oaked: 100
% new oak: 30

Tasting Note

Complex and concentrated yet pleasingly light on it's feet. Free your mind from stereotypes of the past, be willing to give things another go and imagine the beauty and subtlety that can be borne of an otherwise hostile environment. Not afraid to do the same themselves, it's taken a second incarnation before they were convinced that they had captured the real beauty of the Barossa.

Food Matching

North African and Middle eastern cuisine or robust fish dishes.

Awards

The Wine Companion 91 Points
A meld of fruit from Ebenezer, Kalimna and Koonunga has been handled minimally: fermented indigenously with the inclusion of a small percentage of whole-bunch. The result is rich and seamless. Bitter chocolate. Lilac. Anise, Liquorice. Damson plum and searingly ripe black cherry, with a solid riff of oak. A polished full-bodied wine that will please many. 91 Points, NG, Aug 2020
Robert Parkers The Wine Advocate 93 Points
Made with 40% whole clusters from three sites in the northwestern Barossa Valley and aged over a year in 30% new oak, the 2018 Silken Beastie Shiraz lives up to its name, delivering raspberries, vanilla and mint on a full-bodied, creamy palate framed by silky tannins. It's mouthwatering and long on the finish, only slowly fading away. 93 Points