Thistledown Cunning Plan McLaren Vale Shiraz 2021  £15.98

THISTLEDOWN THE CUNNING PLAN MCLAREN VALE SHIRAZ 

Masters of Wine, Giles Cooke & Fergal Tynan, founded Thistledown Wines in 2010 after discovering iconic vineyard sites in the McLaren Vale, Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills.  They make hand-made, small-batch wines that perfectly illustrate the benefits of great sites and intelligent, minimalist winemaking.

The beautiful region of McLaren Vale is bounded by the Gulf to the West and the various ranges to the East and North. Geologically one of the most diverse regions on earth, it has long been the home to some of Australia’s finest expressions of Shiraz. The fruit comes from the Moray Park vineyard in the McLaren Flat sub-region. Low-yielding and ultra-intense, they handle the fruit gently to capture the delicious berry fruit character, overlaid with subtle wood-spice.

Winemaking is simple with The Cunning Plan. Take perfectly balanced fruit, pick, gently crush to preserve whole berries and allow to soak for 4 days prior to a wild fermentation. Wild fermented and then pressed to French oak only, with either no new oak or only a small percentage used depending on vintage, (10% in the case of 2021)

Great depth of ripe plum and blackberry fruit flavours. A full-bodied wine with a succulent palate, lively spices and fine velvety tannins.

Try with hearty stews, Asian hotpots or cold meat cuts.

93 Points James Halliday

The poise immaculate, attesting to the quality of 2021. Suave, fresh and floral. Blue fruits, a riff on dried seaweed with a sluice of white-pepper-doused freshness towing fine length. A lip-smacking drink, uncannily reminiscent of top cru Beaujolais, so mellifluous the feel.

Ned Goodwin MW