2021 Spring Farm Block 81 Malbec
Jim Barry first planted vines on the Spring Farm property in 1977, recognising the importance of cooler, high-altitude sites for growing Riesling and refined styles of Shiraz, Cabernet, and Malbec. The Barry family has continued to plant vines on this property over the last five decades and value it for its variety of micro climates which enable these diverse varieties to be grown. The Spring Farm label was introduced to highlight the best individual blocks of the Spring Farm vineyard.
Block 81 Malbec lies in the southeast corner of Spring Farm South at an elevation of 480 metres with a Northerly aspect. It is also the Malbec source for Jim Barry’s Clarevale Cabernet Malbec. In some years a Spring Farm Bin 81 Malbec is released to highlight the unique characters of this block. The wine is typified by dark purple fruits, notes of dried flowers and vigorous gravelly tannins; the style harking back to the Clare Valley’s popular ferruginous red wines of the late 19th and early 20th Century. Cool vinification in open stainless-steel fermenters is followed by 14-15 months maturation in a combination of new (5-10%) and seasoned French oak barriques (225L) and puncheons (500L).
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