Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard 2020

Whalebone Vineyard lies in Wrattonbully, in the Limestone Coast, north of Coonawarra in South Australia. Planted in 1974, its old vines are rooted in red Terra Rossa soil over a bedrock of ancient limestone. The cuvée is made at Tapanappa's winery in the Piccadilly Valley, but its grapes do indeed come from this Wrattonbully vineyard.

The grapes are harvested by hand, destemmed, roller-crushed and then chilled to 2 °C. Each grape variety ferments separately in small 0.9-tonne vats, with daily manual punch-downs during 21 days of skin maceration. After pressing, the wines complete their malolactic fermentation in barriques, then are aged for 20 months in French oak barrels before blending and bottling.

This wine reveals notes of dried flowers, blackberry, blackcurrant, blueberry, red fruit, graphite, mint, eucalyptus, camphor, fine leather and spiced wood. The palate is both lively and concentrated, carried by fresh acidity, a flavoursome core of fruit and finely grained tannins. The long, elegant finish combines mineral tension with spicy depth.

Australia began making wine more than two centuries ago. The result is a country rich in old vines, multi-generational winemaking families and a deep-rooted knowledge of and respect for craftsmanship. Add to that a thirst for exploration and innovation, a fearless attitude and a varied portfolio of 65 wine regions across many climates, and you have the makings of an extraordinary wine country like few others. Australia burst onto export markets in the 1980s and has since offered the whole world vibrant, fruity wines of exceptional value. Until the late 1990s and early 2000s, the story of Australian wine was dominated by over-concentrated examples of Shiraz, Grenache and red blends. Between these two extremes lies the diversity of Australia's high-quality and regional wines, which has always existed. Australian viticulture is mainly concentrated along the southern ocean fringe, where conditions are cooler. There are four main wine regions, located around the major cities: Western Australia around Perth, South Australia around Adelaide, Victoria around Melbourne and New South Wales around Sydney. The country is one of the world's largest wine producers and was the 4th largest exporter in the world in 2011. This recent development has made Australia one of the most prominent countries today for the quality of its wines. You can taste Australian wines all over the country. Each Australian region has its own grape varieties. Australian wines are defined by their grape variety, unlike French wines, which are defined by their terroir.