A pretty fab Preservative-Free and Biodynamic Shiraz from Peter Fraser, Australian Winemaker of the Year 2016.

Vibrant plummy fruit with underlying black jacks and dried currants. A hugely energetic drop to follow and in spite of its perceived required youth, it’s fascinating to taste how this wine evolves.

Grapes are picked from 16-20 year old vines in the Kangarilla region of McLaren Vale that sits 150-180m above sea level. There are 100 hectares of vineyards at Yangarra in 35 individual blocks. These vineyards are spread amongst an extra 70 hectares of creeks, native vegetation and native corridors. Our estate has twelve individual blocks of Shiraz. Each block is defined by different aspects and subtle variations of the sand and Ironstone soils that overlie the ancient North Maslin Sands geological formation. PF stands for preservative free (and Peter Fraser). The PF Shiraz is made from grapes grown on Yangarra’s certified biodynamic single-estate vineyard, grown without herbicides, fungicides or synthetic chemicals. It is made without additions of any kind: sulphites, acid, tannin or finings. Shiraz was hand-picked from select blocks and received via a belt elevator (rather than a screw hopper which macerates the skins) and only de-stemmed. Whole berries were double sorted before being lightly broken and then placed into small open-top fermenters. No additives were used for the wine’s entire production. As with all of our wines, after a few days cold soaking, we allowed natural yeast fermentation and used a careful regime of plunging, and drain and returns to get the right balance of extraction. The wine was carefully pressed after 11 days on skins and allowed to complete malolactic fermentation prior to bottling, with no additions or fining, just filtration.

The intensity of the fruit makes this ideal for salty, snacky food as well as heftier meat dishes. Try with Twiglets, bruschetta or braised pig cheeks.