Zonte’s Footstep 1st Off the Rank McLaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon 2022

With its boisterous berry flavours and hallmark tannin structure, this wine hailed us down like a vocal New Yorker at rush hour. We fastidiously selected each barrel for this wine whereby it affectionately became known as the ‘1st off the rank’.

Harvested in the cool of the morning. Some whole berries were retained to promote the fruit and underwent partial carbonic maceration the remaining fruit was destemmed, crushed then cold soaked for 3 days.

Primary fermentation took place in open fermenters that were hand plunged and pumped over daily until complete. The wine was racked into 20% new, 80% seasoned French oak puncheons where it was allowed to complete a natural malolactic fermentation. The wine was racked again and returned to barrel to mature over 12 months at which point we selected the most expressive barrels for this blend. These were racked off gross lees without fining before being bottled to ensure we captured the texture, taste and purity of the fruit in bottle.