Kay Brothers Block 6 Shiraz 2015

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

Old vine wines can be given many free kicks, but most often, when you taste, there’s a depth and concentration to the fruit that’s rarely found in wines made from younger vines. Red and black fruits, vanilla custard, iron, spice, Chinese master stock with plenty of star anise. Full bodied, inky ferrous tannin, black olive and toasty oak, slightly too firm acidity, though it can’t master the intensity of fruit – that can’t be defeated – cloves, ginger biscuits, coal, and a long fresh finish slick with iron and graphite tannin and more red fruit than black. Bring it. So much more to come. Truly an icon of Australian Shiraz. Gary Walsh 95 Points