Deep ruby and garnet in colour displaying an alluring bouquet of dark cherry and spicy plum notes. Brooding dark cherry and cassis spice underpin the palate which is soft and refined but with a core strength and rigidity running the entire length.
Grape Variety:
- Mourvedre 100%
Technical Details:
- Alcohol 14.5%
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- pH 3.49
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- Acidity 6.7 g/L
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- Residual sugar: nil
Vineyards:
- Region: Barossa Valley – sub region Moppa
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- Altitude: 350m above sea level
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- Aspect: gentle south-west
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- Soil: shallow sandy loam over ironstone
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- Vine Age: 80+ year-old
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- Row Orientation: east - west
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- Pruning: single wire spur pruned
Hand harvested from old dry grown vines, destemmed and crushed into small 1.0 tonne rotating oak barrel fermenter. A slow and controlled ferment with extended skin contact ensured great extraction and integration. Pressed and returned back to large format oak vessel for a 20-month maturation period. No racking off lees provides for extended mouth-feel and wine palate texture. Prior to bottling, natural clarification and stabilisation techniques were employed to ensure minimal finings and no filtration.
Stauros is a Mourvedre made from a unique old vine single vineyard and released only in years of exemplary quality. The vineyard site, in the northern Barossa Valley, is set on ancient soils that have been home to naturally occurring, but rare, stone crosses known as Staurolite. This mineral takes its name from the Greek word stauros, referring to cross.
Optimum 2030
Reviews
96 Points
Wine Orbit - NZ
Dark and engaging yet refined and stylish, this glorious rendition of the variety shows blackcurrant, spiced plum, thyme, cake spice and roasted nut characters on the nose, leading to a sumptuous palate that is wonderfully weighted and firmly structured by fine, chalky tannins. The wine is up front and flavoursome with velvety mouthfeel, finishing persistent and expansive.
94 Points
James Suckling (Nick Stock reviewer)
This parcel is from Moppa and offers amaro-like herb notes, raisins and plums, as well as woody spices. There’s a concentrated dark-herb and licorice edge to the palate, together with dark chocolate and cassis. Dried herbs, too. Really unique. Drink over the next six years. Glass stopper. Nick Stock
95 Points
James Halliday (Dave Brooks reviewer)
Corey Ryan and Simon Cowham's flagship, single-site mourvèdre from the Schulz family vineyard in Moppa. It's immediately broody and meaty from first sniff. Black cherry and deep-black plum fruits cut through with notes of exotic spice, veal jus, cassis and earth. There is initially a soft, open-knit fruit attitude that swells and compacts with great meaty purity, with layers of complexity and firm, superfine feathery tannins providing a sound frame for the savoury, spiced plummy fruits. Complex and enchanting drinking.