2023 Mount Pleasant 1880 Vines Old Hill Vineyard Shiraz

Highly Rated
The pinnacle of single vineyard Hunter Shiraz, from a vineyard planted in Victorian times. Astonishingly deep and characterful.
5.0
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
1 Review

Price:
Sale price$145.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship, only 3 units left
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Description

Old Hill is the OG Mount Pleasant vineyard, planted in 1880 by an Englishman of great foresight, Charles King. The Old Hill site continues to produce exceptional quality Shiraz in very low quantities.

Winemaker Adrian Sparks treats this with kid gloves. Meticulous handpicking in three passes, ensuring only the finest bunches are selected. The fruit undergoes destemming and a brief cold soak in small open fermenters, immediately extracting intense colour. Fermentation occurs at 18-25 ˚C over nine days, followed by gentle pressing and maturation in large format French oak barrels, with 20% new oak, for nearly 12 months before blending and bottling.

An awesome release of extreme complexity, the aromas flit around like a butterfly from brown spices to earthy tones, to dark plum and chocolate-covered cherries. The palate is polished and pure rather than rustic. It's not Barossa glossy, more Hunter high-toned, with great balance and a straight-down-the-fairway finish.

Old Hill Vineyard Shiraz is a wine of extreme complexity and finesse, a true gem from Mount Pleasant’s most historic vineyard. What a wine.

Handpicked in three passes through the vineyard, only selecting the perfect bunches on each run. The fruit was destemmed to small open fermenters for a brief cold soaking period where intense colour was gained immediately. Fermented at 18-25 ˚C for approximately 9 days. Gently pressed to large format French oak barrels (~20% new) for almost 12 months maturation, before blending and bottling.

Wine Profile
COLOUR: Deep purple

AROMA: Intense dark fruits coupled with lovely spice and red berries.

PALATE: Structural with powerful fruit, a long intense palate with seamless tannin.

97+ points - "Chewy, chunky, rich and dense. A potent and deeply scented and flavoured wine, robust in sandy tannin, vivid in purple and black berry fruitiness, forest floor, gum leaf, a touch or stewed rhubarb, clove, black olive, dark chocolate. A sweetness ebbs and flows. It does all this with control, however, a sheath of fine, suede tannin. Multi-dimensional. Proper stuff here, an old school, good school idiom, nailed so well." - Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

97 points - "Painted in shades of black and blue fruit. A smidge of caramel oak comes first, nutmeg then figs, aniseed, violet and blue plum. It’s clear from the first sip that this needs a lot of time to unfurl, in the glass, in the bottle… Dark slate smooth texture, feathery almost, bloody, salty, very fine velvety tannins, tight, yes, all at once, carrying flavour detail long and in a savoury manner. English Breakfast tea perfume lingering long in the aftertaste. Elegant and deeply satisfying. Stunning wine." - Kasia Sobiesiak (The Wine Front)

97 points - "Deep, dark, liquorice and iodine, still has perfume though. Medium to full-bodied, a powerhouse of inky Hunter Shiraz, with black and red fruit, ferrous tannin, concentrated, some savoury bits, very long, and what an emphatic statement of old vine Hunter Shiraz in a great vintage it is." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

95 points - "Deep and youthful purple colour; dried herbs, freshly turned earth and savoury dusty-oak nuances on the nose. It's full bodied and loaded with drying tannins, deep-set blackberry and dried cherry fruits lurking beneath. A very young wine that needs time and has heaps of potential." - Huon Hooke (The Real Review)

Customer Reviews

5.0
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
Based on 1 review
Total 5 star reviews: 1 Total 4 star reviews: 0 Total 3 star reviews: 0 Total 2 star reviews: 0 Total 1 star reviews: 0
1 review
  • SR
    Stephen R.
    Verified Buyer
    Wine Knowledge Level Enthusiast
    2 years ago
    Wine Knowledge Level Enthusiast
    2021 Mount Pleasant 1880 Vines Old Hill Vineyard Shiraz
    Reviewing
    2021 Mount Pleasant 1880 Vines Old Hill Vineyard Shiraz
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    Exemplary

    Beautiful old vine Hunter Shiraz from a historic vineyard. I love the Hunter style, it’s an explosion of flavour with great structure and density. This will age beautifully if you can keep your hands off it. Exceptional.

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