For those that remember in May 2020, I introduced to you our 2018 Bunnamagoo Tempranillo with some gushing enthusiasm. Much has happened since, and similarly the 2018 Tempranillo has been consumed and consigned to history; but treasured at home as one of the more comforting and enjoyable aspects of recent times. Fortunately, we now have the #V2021 bottled and I am once again excited for the opportunity to present it to you all on behalf of the team.
I believe that this wine will be one of the highlights of the season. Whilst the block is still very young at 7 years old, the vintage treated the vines well with good rainfall and a mild summer. This wine has expressive fruit, fresh acidity and fine tannins that are smooth and soft in texture.
Methods of making this Tempranillo will evolve over time as the vines become more established. They appear to enjoy the characteristics of their site, and for the moment, the fruit is suited to producing earlier drinking, fruit driven aromatic styles, softened with careful oak selection.
The block of Tempranillo on the property is favoured with scattered quartz visible to the naked eye. The red/brown slightly sandy loams over clay subsoils are relatively well drained. These deeper clay subsoils retain moisture and minerals and are a saviour to grapevines in dry times experienced not so long ago. Clay imparts a profile to wines that is similar (and proportional) to the clay itself – thick, round and generous.
Loam soils are a warm, soft crumbly mix of sand, silt and clay. They can sometimes be too fertile for quality winemaking but when blended with other soils in the right amounts it can make age-worthy wines from the medium-full bodied Mudgee classic to the full weight of the Barossa Valley.
Given that the result is larger berry size from the extra fertility in the soil and the potential for abundant tannin driven by the variety and continental conditions in Mudgee, we are conservative in our approach to the level of extract and tannin to create a wine that is more in step with current tastes. And as you become more familiar with this fantastic variety and our region, you will see how sensitively it responds to seasonal variations and then appreciate the winemaking tactics in reply.