John Duval Entity Shiraz Barossa Valley
One of the world’s great winemakers, John Duval was given the ‘Grange’ torch by Max Schubert, the man who created Australia’s most famous wine. John passed it on to his successor when he left Penfolds in 2003 to start his own label. He sources fruit from long-time friends in the Barossa, all of whom own vineyards with vines aged from 50 to 100 years old. The wines are made with minimal intervention and showcase the best of the Barossa.
Shiraz fruit was sourced from some of the oldest vineyards in the Krondorf, Tanunda, Light Pass and Eden Valley regions of the north and east Barossa.
Traditional, low intervention winemaking techniques were employed with 'Entity'. Fermentation was with submerged cap in small stainless steel fermenters. The wine underwent 100% barrel maturation for 15 months, with a third in new, fine grain French oak barriques and the balance in two, three and four year old French oak hogsheads (300 litres).
Deep ruby with a purple glint, this wine displays attractive blackberry and plum aromatics, complemented with some savoury spice. On the palate, the Entity is full bodied and generous, with layers of dark berry fruit and youthful balanced tannins. Very pure and mouth filling, Entity shows ample structure and great ageing potential.