Tasted alongside the standard release and clearly the better wine. Chapel Hill’s ‘The Chosen’ series are sourced from single blocks with a clear eye to focusing on the specificity of terroir within the McLaren Vale region. It’s wine geek heaven for sure but just as importantly, these are all excellent releases. Not a lot of new oak here – only 16%. The grapes do most of the talking.
Black fruited and wonderfully perfumed. There’s plenty of dusty, earthen character and some attractive licorice root. For all the jubey, curranty fruit there’s an appealing savoury edge to the wine. It finishes dry and minerally with superb grainy tannin. It’s years away from its peak drinking window but there’s no doubting the quality here. Excellent
Region: McLaren Vale
Alcohol: 14.5%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $55
Tasted: September 2011