Our beloved McLaren Vale Maritime climes produce Shiraz with a signature juicy milk chocolate core, decadent and lush...Growing grapes and making wine is a magnificently irregular pursuit, especially wonky weather, with very few givens. However, in our beloved McLaren Vale our maritime climes produce Shiraz with the juicy milk chocolate middle palate fruit, year in year out. McLaren Vale is not only our home but also the home of our very own Chocolate Factory Shiraz.

Vintage: current vintage

Region: McLaren Vale

Winemaking:
The fruit for the Chocolate Factory is sourced from hand tended blocks in the Blewett Springs sub-region of McLaren Vale. Primary fermentation takes place in a combination of stainless steel vats and 5 tonne open fermenters after which the wine is assembled into tank and allowed to complete a natural malo-lactic fermentation before being  pressed off.  It is then transferred  to new and well-seasoned hogsheads and  aged for up to12 months prior to bottling with minimal filtration.  This results in a wine with purity of fruit that is unpretentious and eminently satisfying  to allow for regular indulgence.

Tasting Notes:

Colour: 
Deep purple with garnet-purple hue.

Nose:
Warm blackberry pie with notes of fresh blueberries and blackberry preserve. Star anise, nutmeg and cocoa sneak up under the berry fruit.

Entry:
Velvety and plush and fragrant rich red and black fruits. Some tangy cedar and lingering cigar box characters.

Middle Palate:
Juicy round blackberry fruits, tempered with the soft idiosyncratic milky McLaren Vale Shiraz sweetness and roundness.

After Palate:
Lashings of trademark milk chocolate with blackberries and dark-fleshed plums and spice with velvety, smooth tannins.

Finish: 
Juicy blackberry and mocha notes intertwined with signature lush McLaren Vale tannins. Minutes later, the flavour still lingers.

In Summary:
Though it will drink great now, especially with anything off the grill, it should cellar well over the medium term.... If you can resist your chocolate craving.

Ingredients: Grapes and sulphur dioxide.

Other ingredients used in the winemaking process:
- Cultivated yeast.
- yeast nutrients.
- French  and American oak barrels (new and seasoned).

at the time of bottling (21.07.2014), this wine contained:
- 40ppm Total SO2
- 18ppm Free SO2

Accolades:
Gold Medal - San Francisco International Wine Competition 2014
Gold Medal - AWC Vienna 2014
Silver Medal - Critic's Challenge International Wine Competition 2014

Vital Satistics:
Varietal Blend: 100% Shiraz
GI: McLaren Vale
Alcohol by Volume: 14.5%
TA: 6.22 g/L
pH: 3.52
RS: 3.0 g/L