Kangaroo Island Estate

This is the venture of local farmers and entrepreneurs Terry and Cheryl May, who in 1999 decided there was more to life than just sheep and cattle farming, and planted 6ha of shiraz and 2ha of cabernet sauvignon. The vines are hand-pruned and irrigation is minimal, thus ensuring low yields. In 2005 they decided that all wine made from the '07 vintage onwards would be made and bottled onsite, and to this end a farm shed was converted into a winery, and in '06 a climate-controlled barrel storage shed was constructed. The Shiraz and Cabernet are open-fermented and basket-pressed, shiraz into a mixture of old American oak hogsheads, the cabernet into old American and French hogsheads. The wines are aged on lees to keep them fresh while also reducing the oak influence, and are not racked until shortly prior to bottling. The majority of the rose is fermented in stainless steel, a small portion in old French oak quarter-cask barrels. The results speak for themselves. -JAMES HALLIDAY