Bondar Violet Hour Shiraz 2023

The value here has always been super keen. That’s as true as ever with this iteration from a cool year, typically lifted and fragrant but also with some serious import. A tick up from mid-weight, this is spicy and peppered ferruginous minerality, along with blackberry, dark cherries, tapenade, violet, cassia, bay, coffee bean, and salted licorice. Red berries swell up on the palate, with a thoughtfully woven skein of tannins underwriting its class. Excellent. 96 Points, Halliday Wine Companion

As always, Bondar’s Violet Hour Shiraz is handpicked from the Rayner vineyard. A blend of block vines, both young and old (some up to 70 years old). Wild fermented naturally with a high portion of whole-bunches and matured in older French oak (no new barrels were used this year). The wine spent six months resting in tank, before it was bottled the second winter after harvest without fining or filtration.

The 2022 is a layered, wonderfully pure Shiraz with vibrant fresh plum and iodine scented fruit along with some delicious meaty complexity. It’s both generous and medium-bodied, with a terrifically fresh, saline close. Seductive, yet with plenty of the signature finesse and energy that you find in all of this producer’s wines. Lovers of the previous releases will not be disappointed. Producer’s Notes