JC's Own Shiraz Greenock 2018

Jaysen Collins spent two decades honing his craft at Massena — one of the Barossa's most respected and iconoclastic producers — before launching JC's Own as his solo project, a range devoted to letting individual sites speak without interference. The Greenock Shiraz is the most personal wine in the range, rooted in the corner of the Barossa where Collins has always felt most at home. The fruit comes from a single east-facing vineyard on the outskirts of Greenock on the Barossa western ridge — heavy red clay soils that restrict yield and berry size, with under-vine mulching for water conservation. Destemmed directly into open fermenters and plunged daily for two to three weeks before extended skin contact of around eight weeks, then transferred to low-toast seasoned French oak for fermentation and ageing for 18 months on gross lees, bottled without fining or filtration. Total production sits at under 750 bottles per vintage — a wine that barely exists. 

The perfume is simply glorious — coffee, chocolate, blackberry, dark cherry, raspberry, leafy herbal notes, sweet spice, clove, warm earth, liquorice and a dusting of white pepper; the palate supple with satiny fruit effortlessly sailing across, richness handled judiciously with minerality striking a firm chord — a grown-up, sophisticated Shiraz of immense charisma. Rich, juicy and full-flavoured but not over the top — a softness carries the fruit in a clean, seamless manner, big on flavour but extremely well balanced, a classy Barossa Shiraz of power and elegance. Big on fruit intensity but supple and svelte on the palate, powerful yet velvety, structured but sensual — Jaysen Collins's own words, and they describe it perfectly.