Thistledown Cunning Plan Shiraz

Ever since historic Scots, James Busby and John MacArthur founded the Australian wine industry in the early 19th century, the relationship between Scotland and Australia has been an enduring one.

Guardians of a long history, Thistledown Wine Co. continues the tradition of Scottish ingenuity and great Australian wine. From their small-batch winery in the idyllic Adelaide Hills, they work with pristine fruit sourced from iconic vineyard sites. Giles Cooke MW and Fergal Tynan MW, with the helping hand of Peter Leske, craft lithe, energetic wines that illustrate the benefits of great sites and intelligent, low-intervention winemaking. Giles and Fergal share a particular passion for Grenache and, in ever more detail, Thistledown continue to unpick the rich patchwork of South Australian Grenache, reassembling it in their own inimitable style. This unique blend of superb fruit sources and experience in both the New and the Old Worlds helps craft wine of subtlety, texture and detail, wines perfectly suited to complement rather than overwhelm fine food.

Shiraz,

The flood plains between the Angas and Bremer rivers have long been home to some of South Australia's best fruit and it is the cream of the Langhorne Creek crop that are used to craft The Cunning Plan. The region tends towards later ripening than the Barossa or McLaren Vale and this allows them to use perfectly ripe fruit at lower sugar levels which results in wines with better alcohol balance.

Winemaking is simple with The Cunning Plan. Take perfectly balanced, just ripe fruit, pick, gently crush to preserve whole berries and allow to soak for 4 days to extract colour, aroma and fruit prior to the alcoholic fermentation which extracts more pronounced tannins. Following the alcoholic fermentation, the wine is pressed off to 300 litre used French barrels where it matures for 10 months prior to bottling. The resulting wine is bursting with fruit, wonderful purity and that characteristic Langhorne Creek plush, earthy quality. Delicious.

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

Works well with hearty stews, Asian hotpots, cold meat cuts.