Wild & Wilder “The Opportunist” Shiraz, Australia

Description

Tasting Note: We’ve all got a mate who, despite the calamities befalling everyone else, always lands with his bum in the butter. When everyone else sees doom and gloom, The Opportunist sees blue skies and sunshine. Love him or hate him, The Opportunist always comes out on top. An aromatic bouquet of ripe fruits, cherries and blackcurrants, with notes of freshly ground coffee, dark chocolate, peppermint, liquorice and subtle pepper. Thick and smooth with good balanced fruit weight.

Food matching: beef stews, entrecote or a crispy Thai beef salad

Varieties: Shiraz 85%, Grenache 15%

Producer Profile: Wild & Wilder is all about good clean fun. Working hand in hand with their merry (in a good season) band of growers, they craft wines of supreme quality but don’t take it all too seriously.

Great fruit, grown by great people and made with a lot of love by people that know that wine is all about the good times, delicious food and creating great memories. Founded by Giles Cooke MW & Fergal Tynan MW, who also make the Thistledown wines, the mundane is just not in their DNA. Being involved in every stage of the winemaking process from bud burst to bottle means that every bottle from Wild & Wilder is an experience you’ll want to try again.

Viticulture:  Fruit for the Opportunist Shiraz comes from 3 separate blocks of the same vineyard in the historic Langhorne Creek region. All blocks are trellised and spur pruned though the trellis height vary dependent on frost risk. Soils are a mix of sandy loam and darker red soils with moderate fertility. Yields are low to moderate with good canopies that allow for a lengthy ripening period.

Winemaking: As for all of the wines, the fruit for the Opportunist is picked on the way up to ripeness rather than on the way down. This way they achieve freshness and energy but not at the expense of flavour. They retain as many whole berries as possible to increase vibrancy and succulence. Winemaking is simple and is followed by 8 months on oak to increase texture and varietal expression.

Oak Treatment

Time: 8 months
Type: French and American
% wine oaked: 100
% new oak: None