2024 Paxton Wines Quandong Farm Shiraz

VARIETY: 100% Single Vineyard Quandong Farm ShirazCOLOUR: Crushed Velvet MUSIC MATCH: New Person, Same Old Mistakes—Tame ImpalaAROMA: Lively and layered. Up front: licorice allsorts, boysenberry ice cream and blackcurrant, followed by deeper notes of dried plum skin, cardamom, and a savoury edge of tarragon, ripe stems, and smokehouse. It’s aromatic but grounded—sweet, spicy, and just a little wild. PALATE: Bright and focused with plenty of drive. There’s an immediate juicy lift, but the wine quickly reveals its depth—dark fruit, spice, and a gentle, earthy pull. Tannins are grainy yet smooth, with a kind of linen-like grip that gives shape without heaviness. It finishes brooding but clean, with tension, energy, and a lot of quiet confidence. GOOD: Now BETTER: 2027 MAX: 2038VINTAGE 2024: The 2024 vintage was marked by dramatic contrasts, beginning with an unusually wet and cool early season followed by a burst of intense summer heat. Despite the early challenges, including heavy rainfall and a heatwave during harvest, the late summer and early autumn weather allowed the remaining varieties to develop exceptional flavour concentration. Careful vineyard management, including bunch and shoot thinning, helped the grapes to thrive despite the hurdles. The resulting wines boast impressive flavour depth, refreshing natural acidity, and a well-structured tannin profile. The year’s trials and triumphs have set the stage for wines with a remarkable balance of freshness and complexity. VINIFICATION: Grapes were handpicked and selector harvested at optimum flavour and sugar equilibrium. 40% was used as whole bunches while the remainder was delicately destemmed and fermented using 100% indigenous (wild) yeast. The small batch open ferments were carefully plunged and pumped over for 15—20 days to extract colour, flavour and tannin structure, then pressed to new and mature French oak puncheons, where they were nurtured for 12 months prior to blending and bottling.ALCOHOL: 14.0%