Colour:
Inky purple black is the colour of Buckboard 2023.
Aroma:
The bright aromatics are very inviting. Notes of violets, fresh baked fruit cake, cherry ripe, plum, trifle, sarsaparilla, grape jubes, sage flower and a hint of toasty oak.
Palate:
The palate is rich, bold, and flavoursome. Full-bodied with intense dark fruits. The natural tannins are classic Durif – prominent, grippy, chalky, mouth-coating; all in a welcome way. New oak barrels are evident adding dark chocolatey notes together with smoke and coffee perfectly complimenting the big fruits. The length is carried for a long time with fruit, tannin and oak all playing their harmonious part to the finish.
Recommended Drinking:
Buckboard is a strong, powerful, and beautifully balanced Barossa Durif that can be enjoyed now or for a decade or more.
Vintage 2023 has produced exceptional wines. It was the longest and latest on record, stretching from mid-March to early-May. The vines got off to a superb start with a wet and cool Spring providing plenty of sub-soil moisture for the growing season ahead. Summer brought typically average temperatures and was generally dry with occasional finite rain. The vines were in fantastic condition for slow and steady ripening into Autumn with its mild days, cool nights, and isolated light rain. Yields from 2023 are good and quality is excellent.
The grapes were picked on April 5th 2023, and then destemmed into open top fermenters. The must was native-yeast fermented for 8 days on skins with hand pump-overs twice a day. After pressing off skins the Durif was filled to a mix of 25% new and the balance used American oak hogsheads. The wine underwent natural malolactic fermentation in barrel. The Durif was matured in barrel for a year prior to bottling
Buckboard Durif is sourced from a single vineyard on the Kalleske property. The hand-pruned vines are low-yielding and are grown in shallow, sandy loam soil over superb deep red clay, providing ideal conditions for Durif.