Tyrrell’s Vat 9 Shiraz Hunter Valley – 2021

“The 2021 Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz is everything we want and expect from quality Hunter Valley Shiraz: medium-bodied, mineral, elegant, saturated with red fruit flavor and layered with exotic spice. The tannins are key to enjoyment here; they are very fine, ductile, almost whippy in shape and texture and show such extreme elegance that one cannot imagine what more one could want from tannins. They serve the fruit perfectly. This will only get better. And better. And better.” 95+/100pts Wine Advocate

96/100pts James Halliday

Vineyard
Sourced from the best parcels on the Tyrrell Estate ‘Ashmans’. These vines have a minimum age of 50 years, and are grown in red clay soils over limestone. Weinkeller and the Short Flat make up the majority of the Vat 9 blend.

Vintage Conditions
The 2021 vintage was an outstanding growing season. With an early budburst and later than normal harvesting, the fruit had a longer than normal hang time, which meant that all of the fruit had wonderful flavours balanced by a high natural acidity.

Winemaker’s Notes
Handpicked and sorted in the vineyard in the second week of February, the blocks were all kept separate and fermented in open top vats. The individual wines were then matured in mostly newer
French oak casks (2700L) until the Vat 9 blend was assembled in November 2021. The blend was then matured for a further five months before bottling.

Tasting Notes
Vibrant purple in colour, a regal nose showing lifted spice, dark fruits and subtle hint of oak. The palate is medium-bodied showing great intensity and the velvety texture that is seen in the best wines from this vintage. The palate structure is effortless with no rough edges showing wonderful balance of fruit, acid, oak and tannin.

Date Picked 11 – 19 February 2021 | Date Bottled 4 May 2022
Alc 13.5% | pH 3.40 | TA 6.35 g/L