A lovely wine, made from a really lovely old block of Shiraz on the Deanery Vineyard in Balhannah—affectionately known as The Bull Paddock.
Over the last 12 months, I’ve reflected a lot. My children are settled at school, and I finally have the space to be thoughtful again—with the wines and the brand. For a few years I was in a more impulsive flow and the wines were a true reflection of that season, early to bottle, bold, bright flavours. Now I’m thinking about every detail, every cellar operation, every word on a label. how I was in the first two years of Charlotte Dalton, before the beautiful chaos of babies and toddlers.
This Shiraz is the first wine to return to simplistic labels. For a while there, they were bright, glossy, busy—stunning, like my life. Now it’s paper again, really good paper, too—if you get a bottle in your hands, please take time to appreciate the paper. Textured and warm. It reminds me of listening to music on a record player: comforting, subtly flawed, deep and human—versus streaming on Spotify, which is crisp, perfect, and convenient. Both wonderful. Just different.
There’s a long layered relationship to these Deanery vineyards—and specifically this block. When I moved to Australia to be Winemaker at The Lane in their brand-new Hahndorf winery, I met Tash Mooney, their consultant winemaker. She welcomed me into her world—meals, gatherings, and real lessons in South Australian winemaking. Eventually I left The Lane to start Wine Lab, my wine analysis company. But I was missing winemaking. In stepped Tash again: she brought me on as a winemaker for her consultancy business.
Around that time I moved to a little stone cottage in Basket Range, on a few acres of land with sheep and alpacas, a horse and vines, owned by Duncan and Jude Dean. They were incredibly kind—Sunday dinners, lovely wines, long talks until late. I saw them as my Australian family. The Deans (along with Duncan’s brothers Alan and Nick) own two other vineyards —in Piccadilly and Balhannah. One brand I was making wine for was looking for Adelaide Hills Shiraz, and I suggested The Deanery’s Bull Paddock Shiraz. That relationship with these vines started in 2012—so I’ve been making wine from these grapes for 14 years now.
The Deans worked with vineyard logistics company Infield Ag, and their operations manager was Ben Cooke. We’d met before through a few crossovers, for many years he was the assistant winemaker at Shaw & Smith which was across the road from The Lane—but we grew closer during those vineyard years . Now we share life on the South Coast: two kids, a winery, a cellar door, and everything in between.
And now—the wine.
This wine makes itself, because the grapes are just beautiful. It ferments with wild yeast for 16 days—plunged four times a day—tasted daily, keeping a close eye on the sugar drop. Then it’s pressed to French oak barriques, sits for 26 months, and is racked to tank before bottling.
It’s still fresh and bright, with mature, ripe tannin that holds it together—plus fruit with lovely flavour and length. Raspberry, licorice, nutmeg, and subtle Christmas spices. It’s still fun, but it’s also serious and grown up now—fitting, because these vines and I are 14 years older than when we first met.
Enjoy.
