Wine Review: Max & Me's 'Enchanting' Boongarrie Shiraz is a Family Affair

This particular wine from Phil and Sarah’s lovely property between Kyneton and the Eden Valley township is just a beautiful, pure expression of how good Eden Valley Shiraz can be. Phil says he’s coined the term “Central Range” for the area because “we are in the middle range of hills in the Eden Valley. You won’t find that term in no fancy book, though!”

The vineyard is farmed uncertified organic and the 2015 vintage was incredibly low yielding coming in at 0.3 t/ac. The wine is fermented in picking bins and held on skins for 12 days before aging on light lees in a mix of old and new French oak hogsheads and puncheons.

Bright red/purple in the glass, the aromas show gorgeous fruit purity with a vibrant, perfumed aspect which draws you into the glass. Plum, blueberry, blackberry and the higher tones of mulberry and cranberry all come into focus. There are hints of spice, licorice, earth, jasmine, hoi sin and beautifully judged vanillin French oak.

While the aromatic profile is enchanting, it is in the mouth that the wine impresses most, with a bright, floral–flecked fruit entry, great clarity and detail, enviable fruit purity and a bright, mineral drive across the palate. There is a spacious feel to the wine’s shape but the underlying fruit is gorgeously ripe and opulent, never feeling heavy or laboured on the palate, brisk and pulsating with energy.

The finish lingers persistently with dark fruit flavours, jasmine, spice and ripe, fine tannin with bright acidity. An exciting new wine.

MAX & ME 2015 Boongarrie Vineyard Eden Valley Shiraz

maxandme.com.au