Tyrrell's VAT 8 Shiraz Cabernet 2021

The 2021 Vat 9 Hunter Shiraz is everything we want and expect from quality Hunter Valley Shiraz: medium-bodied, mineral, elegant, saturated with red fruit flavor and layered with exotic spice. The tannins are key to enjoyment here; they are very fine, ductile, almost whippy in shape and texture and show such extreme elegance that one cannot imagine what more one could want from tannins. They serve the fruit perfectly. This will only get better. And better. And better.

A blend of shiraz and cabernet from the Hunter Valley, with the shiraz sourced from premium vineyards on the Tyrrell’s property and Moon Mountain vineyard and the cabernet coming from Pokolbin. All of the components were fermented and matured separately until blending. After blending the wine was put back into French oak barriques, 30% of which were new, until bottling. The wine was predominately matured in smaller 225L barriques. As always with Vat 8, we see much darker fruits and some chocolate characters in the wine, along with the extra element of spice from the higher percentage of new oak.