Spinifex Papillon 2022

Pete Schell’s Papillon was one of the first of the mod-Barossa wines to show that ripeness and depth of flavour needn’t come at the expense of freshness and vineyard expression. All these years later, it remains at the top of its game—if anything, it has never been in better form.

This year’s wine is drawn from three exceptionally old, dry-grown, bush-vine sites as last year. Unlike the Grenache-dominant 2021, the 2022 leads with Cinsault, with 87% of the blend. The lion's share of the Cinsault is sourced from a plot of pre-Great-War vines (1910) in the friable, deep, red-clay soils of Ebenezer, while the balance is sourced from a 40-year-old sandy plot in Bethany. The Grenache component comes from a plot of vines planted around 1890 in Vine Vale that are rooted in deep, coarse sandy soil. All three parcels are fermented as whole berries and matured in a mix of old, large oak foudres and stainless-steel tanks.

The fresh and moderate conditions of 2022 have delivered one of the most consumable renditions of Papillon we have seen in some years. Campbell’s notes sums the wine up nicely—delicious indeed.