JC's Own Stratum Shiraz 2021

Jaysen Collins “The Barossa has a love affair with hearty and rich red wines, with Shiraz being the jewel in the crown. Growers have tried other varieties over time that have similar hallmarks of sweetness, richness and ripeness, with Zinfandel being a leading candidate. So, a few decades back you’d find a few Zinfandel plantings popping up in vineyards to see if people would have a thirst for something new. It’s great to try new things, but sometimes you just have to realise tastes are not going to change – classics become classics for a reason.

What to do with these Zinfandel vines then - graft them to Shiraz of course, a layer of new vines on a mature root base. The vineyard I source this from is in my favourite Barossa sub-region, Greenock, where the soils have a layering of red clays over a limestone base. The fruit from this section of the vineyard is aromatic and bright, without the cloying sweetness that some Shiraz and Zinfandels can have!

So layers is a theme with this vineyard story, it would make sense to call this Layers Shiraz. Unfortunately, this was trademarked so I used the Thesaurus and Stratum was the next best thing.”

Mike Bennie, The Wine Front “From a single site in Greenock of zinfandel grafted to shiraz vines, or some of the vines were zin. The main deal here is that the wine is fermented and aged in cement vessels. It’s meant to be a neck oil, mother’s milk, easier drinking, soft and dark, heartland kinda expression. This feels like a bargain for the matrix of fine, younger gen producer x quality fruit x regional character x deliciousness.

It’s big and bold, all lush and slurpy yet finds some neat tailoring in its web of grippy, emery board tannins. Inky colour, dark scents of ripe plum, pipe tobacco, dark chocolate, blackcurrant pastilles, ferrous notes and Ribena. Flavours are similar but it’s all rich and slatternly and plops along with sploshes of ripe Barossa shiraz 101 flavours. Noms, as the kids would say. Does the trick, delivers a sophisticated version of a dark and supple red and layers in good detail. Line up for your winter warmer.”