Vintage 2014: Vintage 2014 was a season of extremes for us all in McLaren Vale. We had great winter rains which gave us a full soil moisture profile in time for a dry and windy spring. They don’t call it windy Willunga for nothing. If we’d had a set of wind chimes on the property, we would have heard them all day and night from September to January. We had a series of very hot days in January, followed by about 45mm of rain over a 48 period in early February which slowed ripening of our red grapes right down. We had picked all of our white grapes prior to the rain ‘event’ and so we had a decent break between whites and reds, like the good old days. There was no splitting of any of the grapes left on the vine after the rain, mercifully, either. Joch’s analysis of 2014 is that it was a gentleman’s vintage – everything came in slowly and in order, not like the mad rush of 2013. Every vintage is different; truism of our time, and of our industry.

Winemaking: When you think of Puritan think fresh, vibrant and YOUNG! Look at the picking dates and the bottling date. We make this wine to be enjoyed immediately in the vein of Spanish ‘Joven’ style reds wines that are made from Tempranillo. Puritan is a Shiraz, however. We pick and ferment the wine, allow it go through MLF (malo, or malolactic fermentation) and then bottle it immediately. Puritan spends no time in oak and has no added preservatives (sulphur dioxide).

Technical Details:
Vineyards: Denton’s Edgehill, Cox’s and the Hill Shiraz (in front of cellar door)
Picking Date: 5th 11th and 27th March 2014
Alc/Vol: 14.5
Bottling Date: 19th May 2014


"One word YUM, vibrant red raspberry fruit & licorice jumping out of the glass, preservative free perfection. This is my kind of wine, get it before I drink it all! Michelle Gadd organicwine.com.au June 2014