Spinifex Old Vine Mataro 2012

Not to be confused with the Old Vine Moculta Single Vineyard releases from the same year, this wine was sourced from a selection of 90 year old Barossa Mataro rooted in the Lights Pass sub-region between Angaston and Nuriootpa. Fermented naturally, the wine spent a total of three weeks on skins before 16 months in old French oak, and then a stretch in stainless steel to freshen the wine up.

It has all the exceptional power you would hope of an old vine Barossa Mataro, and then some. There is a big mouth filling attack of spicy blackcurrant, inky, poppy seed noted fruit and a powdery, savoury structure, which, only after four years is beginning to resolve itself. The finish scents the breath with plenty of spice and earthy notes-the hallmark of great old vine Mataro for Pete Schell.