JMK Shiraz VP is a luscious fortified Shiraz grown and vintaged on the Kalleske family farm at Greenock in the North-Western Barossa Valley. This wine is dedicated to fifth generation grapegrower, John Malcolm Kalleske (JMK), who has tended the Kalleske family vineyards for more than 50 years. The vineyard for this special wine was hand pruned and harvested by John. JMK Shiraz reflects the dedication of John and the generations before him to the treasured Kalleske vineyard.

VINTAGE: Vintage 2012 was a fantastic year. The wines from 2012 are outstanding and up there with 2010 and 2002 as the best wines to come out of our Kalleske winery. Vintage 2012 began with a good growing season of moderate rainfall and normal temperatures. Summer and Autumn were perfect with generally warm sunny days and only a few heat periods but nothing extreme. The weather was generally dry with an occasional shower of rain refreshing the vines. The perfect mid-high 20s weather ensured the grapes ripened steadily and evenly producing outstanding quality.

VINEYARD: Kalleske JMK Shiraz VP is sourced from select blocks of the Kalleske vineyard, including the renowned ‘Greenock’ block. The vineyard blocks consists of shallow, sandy loam soil over superb deep red clay and limestone, providing ideal conditions for Shiraz vines.

WINEMAKING: WINEMAKINGThe grapes were harvested in 2 batches over 3 weeks providing differing sweetness and complexity for the finished wine. Following harvest, the grapes were fermented in open top fermenters with hand pump-overs or plunging twice a day. Sweetness and flavours of the fermenting grapes were closely monitored and when at desired levels for each batch, at 3-5 days after harvest, grape spirit was added, arresting the fermentation to retain some natural grape sweetness. A combination of young and old (up to 20 years) brandy spirit was used to fortify the wine, ensuring added complexity. For one batch a portion of free-run juice was drained from the fermenter prior to fortifying whereas the other batch was fortified on skins and soaked for 17 days before pressing. Following fortification, the wine was matured in well seasoned hogsheads for eighteen months. At this time, only the very best barrels were selected to be included in the bottling of this liqueur Shiraz.