2023 Setiono 'Lowke' Shiraz

V23 in Barossa Valley consisted of a long and cool season with sunny days but no heatwaves. This led to slow and balanced ripening which has given rise to structured, flavourful wines.

The fruit for this wine was sourced from Rhonda Lowke’s vineyard in Ebenezer, now managed by Adrian Hoffmann. This early 1900s organic vineyard is on dark brown loam with rich ironstone and calcium. It is less than a hectare of concentrated, dry-grown shiraz.

A low yielding year has produced intensely concentrated fruit where just enough was grown to fill a single barrel. This parcel was hand-picked and wild fermented entirely as whole bunches which were left on skins for three weeks. It was then placed into new French oak for only 14 days before being moved into an old barrel to mature on full lees for about a year. Bottling took place on site without filtration or fining and gravity was gently used for all movements.

Production – 448 bottles

The label background was painted by Angela Oemcke and was created to mimic the waterways underneath the vineyard and convey Barossa Valley’s warmer climate.