Kay Brothers Block 6 Shiraz 2013

The story of the Kay family can be traced back to 1724 in Scotland and ancestory of the vines in McLaren Vale their beloved Block 6, planted in 1892. With that pride comes plenty of intricate planning to care for vines of such venerable age. Our methods may be old fashioned, but Kay Brothers are proud to make their McLaren Vale wines that truly express their terroir. The aim in the winery is to do whatever we can to preserve the amazing flavours and characters nature provides in the vineyard. To achieve this, we strive to be as gentle as possible from harvest all the way through to the original open fermenters, hand plunging and our heritage 1928 basket press made in small batches.

Kay Brothers' flagship wine, handpicked from Shiraz vines planted in 1892. Long held in high esteem as one of McLaren Vale’s finest Shiraz plantings, Block 6 Shiraz continues the tradition at Kay Brothers of producing full bodied red wines that have the grace and pedigree to age for decades. Handpicked and fermented in the original open top fermenters, Block 6 Shiraz is a wine of great strength, deep complexity and amazing vibrancy. The Block 6 vineyard faces east and rows run north south with significant undulation. The vines are cane pruned with the canes wrapped onto the top wire of the low lying trellis. The present 1.5 hectares comprises a corner of red loam, some heavy clay in the middle of the block and gravelly alluvial soils on the lower side. The underlying “South Maslin Sands” geology is extremely complex containing layers of glauconite, limestone, sandstone and siltstone.

Langtons Classification - Outstanding

From 121yo estate vines, open-fermented, 15 days cold soak with 17 days further skin contact, matured for 19 months in French oak (33% new). An extremely complex wine, juicy fruits of every colour and description engaged in an Indian arm wrestle with briary/spicy/savoury tannins, French oak the timekeeper, not engaged in the wrestle. Australia is lucky to have wines such as this. Drink by 2038. 96 points
James Halliday's Wine Companion