When Spinifex first made the scene (so to speak) in 2001, this was one of the wines that made a big impact on what we have become to expect from new millennium Barossa Valley. Always designed around perfume, finesse and savoury structure, the make-up of Esprit changes year-on-year, while never sacrificing its 'Barossa Burgundy' tag.
As always, the wine was sourced from a selection (eight in total) of very old vineyards, mainly in Ebenezer, Williamstown and Bethany. Vine age ranges from 75, to over 150 years, and all sites are dry-grown with minimal vineyard inputs—old vineyards grown the old way. The extremely low yields in 2020 have produced a vastly different beast to the 2019. That wine was Grenache-dominant (74%) while this new release is a blend of 67% Mataro, 27% Grenache and 6% Cinsault. Each parcel was fermented wild and macerations varied from between eight and 20 days. Maturation was in a combination of well-seasoned 600 and 1200 litre barrels and stainless steel. Only the Grenache component was fermented as whole clusters.