Pirathon - 2018 Vintage

2018 produced exceptional wines that exude elegance and poise with incredible length of flavour.

In this vintage Pirathon offers a range of four outstanding Barossa Valley Shiraz.

Pirathon Silver Label Cabernet

The Pirathon Silver Label Cabernet Sauvignon is classic Barossa. Full bodied displaying ripe black olive and savoury notes with toasty background oak.

Pirathon Blue Label Shiraz

Pirathon Blue Label is medium bodied with notes of blueberry, floral, spice and juicy red fruits. Perfectly balanced with soft tannins and subtle oak complexity. A delightful Barossa Shiraz.

Pirathon Gold Label Shiraz

The Pirathon Gold Label Shiraz is full bodied with intense dark fruit flavours and enticing aromas. It is rich on the palate with solid tannins and cedary oak giving a powerful Barossa Shiraz of the highest calibre.

Pirathon Silver Label Shiraz

Pirathon Silver Label is the classic and award winning Pirathon Shiraz. Full bodied displaying ripe red with toasty background oak. Plush tannins add weight to this generous, harmonious and flavoursome wine.

Growing Season

The 2018 Barossa Valley growing season started off well, with winter rainfall around 10% higher than average ensuring soil profiles were full. Spring saw moderate rainfall with a warmer than average October and November allowing vine canopies to grow quickly. Weather conditions allowed for good flowering and fruit set which resulted in good bunch numbers. January and early February were hot and dry in particular night time temperatures which were well above average causing the slowing down of ripening. After February 9 the season changed to an Indian Summer with dry conditions continuing but temperatures much more moderate with only two days reaching 35 C. This led to perfect harvest conditions allowing each block to ripen slowly. Yields were down due to the small berry size, but this led to wines with amazing colour and flavour concentration.

Vineyard

The grapes were harvested from the low-yielding vineyards of traditional family growers in the north-western Barossa districts of Moppa, Belvidere, Koonunga, Ebenezer, Light Pass. Each vineyard adds its own exclusive dimension to Pirathon Shiraz and combined they produce the ultimate blend.

Winemaking

Each vineyard was harvested at optimal maturity. Following harvest, each individual lot of grapes was crushed into a separate open top fermenter. During fermentation, hand pump-overs gently extracted colour and flavour from the grapes. After 7-12 days on skins the fermented grapes were pressed with a traditional press. The wines were then filled to new and seasoned American, French, and Hungarian oak hogsheads for maturation for eighteen months before each lot of wine was racked from the barrel and carefully blended. The wine was bottled without fining, ensuring the true expression of the vineyards in the bottle.