Three Choirs Vineyards Ravens Hill 2018

A deep, ruby coloured red wine full of ripe blackberry and cherry fruit on the nose with a subtle hint of lightly toasted oak from the American Barrel ageing. English red berry fruit character dominates on the palate, (damson, cherry, with a hint of blackberry and raspberry) and on the finish subtle vanilla oak character adds a degree of complexity to this cool-climate red wine.

The Vineyard is south facing on sandy loam soil. GDC trellis system with 800 vines per acre or 2000 per hectare. Most vines are 10-20 years old, all grapes are hand-picked. The 2018 harvest produced an above-average crop with good ripeness levels and most importantly a good level of crisp acidity. The wine required minimum intervention in the winery and produced a wine of typical varietal character.