Wirra Wirra Shiraz Woodhenge 2022

Wirra Wirra was founded in 1894 by Robert Strangways Wigley, a noted South Australian eccentric and former state cricketer who helped build McLaren Vale's early reputation for serious wine. The estate fell dormant for decades before Greg Trott rebuilt it from the late 1960s, restoring the winery with local materials and replanting the vines with a maxim that still defines the place today: "never give misery an even break, nor bad wine a second chance." Trott's larger-than-life character shows up all over the property, none more literally than Woodhenge itself — a ten-tonne fence built from gum trees marking the estate's entrance, and the namesake for this cuvée. Fruit is drawn from old estate vines alongside trusted growers across McLaren Vale and the neighbouring Adelaide Hills, much of it organically and biodynamically farmed since 2013. The wine is traditionally basket-pressed for gentle, textural extraction, then matured in a mix of French and American oak.

The result is McLaren Vale Shiraz at its most generous: dark plum and blackberry meet violet, allspice, and fruitcake, layered with vanilla, toast, and cocoa from the oak. It's rich and full-bodied, with fine, grainy tannins and a savoury, mineral edge giving real structure beneath the fruit, carrying through to a long, persistent finish.