White Boar bottle image
White Boar bottle image

White Boar 2013

Tasting Notes

White Boar is a rich luxurious red wine with layer upon layer of rich dark fruits, a whiff of chocolate and a character that Joch describes as ‘Old Jamaica’ – remember the chocolate? The wine has incredible persistence in the palate – you will still be tasting it minutes after you have swallowed the last drop. Drink with a rich braise dish or sitting in an armchair by a roaring fire in a castle. At home will do just as well.

Stop press: 2013 White Boar got a bronze medal at the 2017 Great Australian Red (October 2017)

We had good winter rains then warm summer conditions which brought about an early harvest. We had a few hot-cool-hot-cool periods which made it a little trickier to decide when to pick, but Joch reckons he got it right in the end.

'White Boar' is made with a nod in the general direction of Amarone, the Italian wine made in Valpolicella using native Italian varieties. There, grapes are dried on racks prior to fermentation. Being Bosworth, we do things slightly differently and cut the canes once the grapes are flavour ripe, and leave them to dry and concentrate on the vines. We are left after 10-12 days with slightly shrunken grapes rich in flavour and acidity. What follows then is a slow fermentation (the beaumé or grape sugar is pretty high) and then maturation for about 20 months in big old oak barrels before bottling.

  • Huon Hooke www.huonhooke.com

    Deep, youthful red/purple colour with a spicy, oaky, dark fruits and almost camphor-like aroma. Walnuts, mint, talcum powder oak, fresh herbs: there's a lot going on here. A big, brawny, slightly old-fashioned red. Fruit drives it, which is a positive. I'd give it more time yet. 30/9/2017

    92 Points and ****

Technical Details

Vineyards: Chanticleer

Picking Date: Shiraz 11th March 2013 and Cabernet 22nd March 2013

Bottling Date: 1st July 2015

Alc/Vol: 14.5%