Pete Schell's Papillon was one of the first of the mod-Barossa wines to show that ripeness and depth of flavour needn’t come at the expense of freshness and vineyard clarity. All these years later it remains at the very top of its game. If anything, it has never been in better form.
Papillon is crafted from a range of old vine, dry grown Grenache and Cinsault vineyards, located in the east and far northern reaches of the Barossa Valley. The average age of these low yielding vines today sits at 90 years old! Each vineyard is hand harvested when just ripe to, In Schell’s words, "...ensure natural acids, freshness, spice and the fresher, edgier tannins are preserved".
It's a wine that would make a top southern Rhône producer proud. It sports a deliciously crunchy texture, cleansing acidity, savoury grip, and is somehow perfectly integrated with the wine’s generous fruit giving a delicious sense of balance. As always, the wine is naturally fermented with a portion of whole bunches and pulled out of large format old wood after six months with the same logic.