Winemaker's Comments

In a perfect world everything fits into its place. But sometimes, just sometimes, you find that the square peg/round hole syndrome is alive and well. This label was first created from what we now describe as a "beautiful accident" in 2011, when a few barrels that were designated to be the famous Kiss Shiraz didn’t quite make the cut, and a few barrels of Sweetwater vineyard Shiraz likewise just didn’t quite match Sweetwater's style. With tongue in cheek, we affectionately referred to these ‘left-over’ barrels as the “Lips and Arseholes” and blended them together to create quite an exceptional Hunter Valley Shiraz.

The wine was extremely well received, so we decided to continue the label in subsequent vintages by making an actual barrel selection for the blend. Each vintage the vineyard composition of the blend will change depending on how each block comes together, but stylistically the premium French oak is definitely a feature of the wine, particularly as a youngster.

The 2018 vintage is made up of a selection of newer barrels from the Kiss (66%), Belford (14%), Cote d'Or (12%) and Dam Block (8%) parcels.

Tasting Notes

Deep purple-garnet in colour, the wine is vibrantly aromatic in its primary fruit and perfume. It shows great concentration of dark berried fruits, with a taut tannin profile that extends right through the length of the palate. The wine feels svelte in the mouth, tightly wound, and with a decant or time in the glass shows even more of its seductive personality. Definitely slightly overt in the (premium French) oak department, but of course that is the style of Elenay. We have seen how the punchy oak 'folds' into the fruit with time in the cellar, and this vintage will be no exception. Pure awesomeness….
Drink 2020 to 2040+

Production - 371 Dozen 
Alcohol - 14.2% 
pH - 3.46 
Acidity - 6.8 g/L