We had terrific winter and spring rains leading up to vintage 2017, a marked contrast to the previous year, proving once again if proof were needed, that every vintage is different. We had a cool early part to spring too, combined with the spring rain. Flowering was about 3 weeks later than the previous year which of course meant that vintage was 3 weeks later than normal, or as some old locals said sagely, back to the old normal. There was a very long and slow ripening period which is terrific for allowing grapes to develop their flavours. We had a pretty dry February March and April, once the spring rains finished in mid-January. Overall a late vintage with some incredibly promising reds and outstanding whites.

I used to call our Puritan a ‘Joven’ style red, a term which refers to young fresh red wines that come out of Rioja in Spain, which are made from Tempranillo. I think I might change now to what Tony Love, wine correspondent from the Adelaide Advertiser called in in a review of the 2017 Puritan in the Source (www.thesource.com on Wednesday 18^th October 2017). He called the Puritan (and other similar types which he also reviewed) as ‘bright young things’. This description captures perfectly what the Puritan is all about. Shiraz is picked ripe and crushed then fermented in stainless steel vessels (no oak barrels are used in the making of this wine). Once through the sugar-to-alcohol fermentation, the wine goes ‘through malo’ (a secondary fermentation which changes malic acid to softer lactic acid) and then we bottle it. Bright, young, fresh, juicy and quite delicious.

• 2017 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards Class 42, Shiraz, 2016 and Younger

  Gold medal woo hoo

• Tony Love Taste.com.au

  While we might imagine the fresh and light brigade reds are going to be shrinking violets, not here, no way. It pours with a vibrant, royal dark purple sheen, and sniffs of just picked and squeezed plum juice. Given the colour and concentration within, it’s proper shiraz weight. With the faintest of sticky-grippy mouthfeels – even some grunt to satisfy fuller-bodied red drinkers, it’s amazing how easy-stepping this wine is to drink. No added sulphur dioxide preservative.

  *** ½

• Winsor Dobbin Wine of the Week September 2017

  An absolute ripper from Joch Bosworth and Louise Hemlsey-Smith in McLaren Vale - a "new wave" red that is all about pure fruit flavours. Made in the "Joven" or "young wine" style of Rioja, this is one of the first 2017 reds to cross my path. Made organically with no oak treatment and no added preservatives, it is designed for early enjoyment and that certainly works. Bright and fresh with dark berry and red fruit characters jostling for supremacy, this is a red that demands very little but delivers a whole lot. Soft and subversively slurpable. 

   

• Huon Hooke, www.huonhooke.com.au

  Very deep, saturated, youthful purple colour, and the aromas are very young and raw: it's a baby wine which still retains some banana-like fermentation esters. Black plums, blackberries, sooty coal-dust and hints of graphite. The tannins are ample but soft and smooth, and the wine is remarkably approachable in its extreme youth.

  90 points ****

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