This is a powerful wine, but with real definition, that has maintained its strong following for nearly 15 years. Those that have tasted it can attest to its spiritual abilities. Stephen Black, the owner and winemaker, was in the pharmaceutical business before he got into wine. The graphic designers who helped with the label tried to create a link between his original career and his current desire to make great wine. Thus the beginning of any good blend is referring to your trusty Little Book for a tried and true recipe. Sourced mainly from the house vineyards close to the winery (Darren Zimmerman’s Marananga Vineyards), and the small remainder from vineyards in South Australia.
The fruit is picked according to taste when Stephen feels that it’s at its optimal ripeness. The fruit is then destemmed and crushed and inoculated to start fermenting. Pumpovers are performed every 8 hours at the beginning to really get at the tannins and color. After two weeks the wine is basket pressed off gently and then racked into barrel. In classic Stephen Black fashion the wine ages for a long period (23 months) in old 300L French and American oak. It was bottled in the late summer without fining and with a coarse filtration and small addition of sulfur.