Museum release. Each year, the Hooper family set aside some museum stock for extended cellaring, to be released when they deem each wine to be in a great place. Over the years, we have embraced their generosity and been rewarded with striking, mature, perfectly cellared wines. We are pleased to offer a slice of Bannockburn history once again.
Winemaker Michael Glover sourced the fruit for this wine from two of Bannockburn's Shiraz blocks: the Winery Block, planted in 1990 and extended in 1996; and the Range Block, planted in 1974. Both blocks lie on the signature limestone-rich soils of the Bannockburn site. The fruit fermented as whole bunches and matured for 12 months in French puncheons, one-third of which were new. The wine then spent a further 12 months in five-year-old barriques. 2013 was a warm vintage that produced wines of structure and power, making it a year in which Glover’s preference for whole bunches played out well in the bottle. A decade later, it’s beginning to hit its straps: deep and broad, framed by firm structure and beautifully integrated dusty tannins with all the savoury nuance and punchy flavour you’d expect from Bannockburn Shiraz.
Harmonious and complex, this will evolve in a decanter or big glass and will look even better with a braise or anything from the grill. It’s in the zone.