Bondar Midnight Hour Shiraz 2023

A great vintage for this wine, but let’s be honest, they’ve all been pretty great! A cooler year, allowing greater hang time and the development of more complex flavours. Rich and full bodied, with a certain weightlessness. Supple and silky, with a dark fruit profile, violets, sweet earth, chocolate and tangy red fruits driving from the mid palate to the finish. Wonderful purity, the tannins long and sappy. What a bargain! Norris at Waters Wine Co

The Shiraz grapes for Midnight Hour are sourced from two blocks in Andre Bondar and Selina Kelly’s own Rayner Vineyard. Planted in 1960 and 1990 on the Seaview side of the vineyard on red/brown clay over limestone, these vines are farmed using organic principles and without irrigation where possible. The soil and age of the vines result in smaller, more open canopies that allow for lots of sunlight to reach the developing bunches. This ensures that stems used in the fermentation are lignified, increasing the complexity of the finished wine. The bunches for Midnight Hour were harvested by hand and fermented with 100% of their stems. Andre and Selina learned the technique during their time working harvest in the northern Rhône. The wine from each batch aged in used French oak for 15 months. The result is a Shiraz with layers of complex flavour, yet an intriguing, textural, black fruit-laden palate. Producer’s Notes