Scarlet Runner Shiraz 2019
Tasting Notes
The 2019 Scarlet Runner Shiraz has a nose of black fruits and black fruit pastille (jubes). It has a full middle weight palate with lots of black fruit with a hint of liquorice and anise. It is all supported by fine supple tannins. It’s a cracking McLaren Vale shiraz; it’s balanced, has lovely fruit on both the nose and palate. Verdict? Delicious!
Vintage
We had good spring rains but lower summer rainfall than we usually receive in McLaren Vale. As a result of this dry growing period, disease pressure was low (no mildews!) although we had a couple of heat spikes in late January and some hot days in February which resulted in reduced crops compared to 2018 (down by up to 30% depending on variety). Whites were picked early in February and picking of the reds started at the beginning of March and was largely all over by the end of the month. Quality is terrific however, naturally.
Winemaking
We employed a mixture of open and small tank fermentation in making this our 12th edition of the Scarlet Runner Shiraz. This is how we make all of our red wines at Battle of Bosworth and Spring Seed Wines (apart from the Puritan) We use mainly older oak to mature the wine. which is a mix of both French and a small amount of American oak. We use about 10% new oak. The idea is to let the fruit speak for itself ...
We pick the grapes according to ripeness and flavour, then bring them to the winery, crush the grapes and put them into open fermenters. Some of the grapes are fermented in older oak barrels, some in stainless steel tanks. The trick is letting the pristine McLaren Vale fruit characters shine through, and we don’t want to smother the classic regional spice and chocolate characters with too much oak. Scarlet Runner is generally bottled by the end of the year it was made in.
Other Vintages
Technical Details
Picking Date: 15th February to the 7th March 2019
Alc/Vol: 14.5%
Bottling Date: 31st July 2020