Acclaimed Australian winemaker Chris Ringland has just released a new wine from his Stone Creek Vineyard in the Barossa Valley. The 2013 Chris Ringland “Single Barrel” Shiraz is the first new wine to be made from the 110 year old vineyard and follows on from his 25 years of working with the parcel of shiraz that he purchased in 1994. Initially labelled as Three Rivers Shiraz, the Chris Ringland “Barossa Ranges” Shiraz has been awarded numerous 100 point scores over the years by The Wine Advocate and is one of 22 wines ranked as Exceptional in the Langtons Classification of Australian Wine.
“While tasting through the barrels of the 2013 vintage,” said Ringland, “I found one barrique in particular to be absolutely outstanding and unique. This barrel came from the extreme southeastern corner of my vineyard and has the shallowest soil resulting in the lowest per-vine yield. I decided to bottle this barrel separately, entirely into magnum only.”
“Over the years since my first release, I have developed an increased awareness of the subtle differences that exist within my vineyard. This deeper understanding of the site has been especially useful in recent vintages where I have been able to direct individual plots and barrels into the Chris Ringland and Randall’s Hill bottlings.”
The Stone Creek Vineyard encompasses two hectares of 110 year old vines that form the foundation for the Chris Ringland Barossa Ranges Shiraz. The site is located in Flaxman Valley, on the northeastern rim of a 36 million year old meteorite impact crater. This is part of the cooler Eden Valley subregion 530 meters above sea level. Chris divides the vineyard into 10 subsections which are harvested and fermented separately at the small winery located on site. The wines are typically aged for 48 months in 100% new French oak barriques and then released after another two years in bottle.
In addition to the Barossa Ranges Shiraz, in some years, Chris will release a Chris Ringland “Randall’s Hill” Shiraz. This wine has only been made four times and is made from lots that do not meet Chris’ strict criteria for inclusion in the Barossa Ranges Shiraz. In some vintages, such as in 1997 and 2014, Chris has declassified the entire production into the Randall’s Hill label.
Ringland declared that “Chris Ringland Single Barrel Shiraz bottlings will occur sporadically in the future, at my discretion, on a ‘need to keep the customer confused’ basis. There will never be more than 150 magnums of this wine produced and offered to preferred customers on the Chris Ringland mailing list. Any remaining magnums will be consigned to my private cellar, I will need to have something to drink in my retirement years.” The 2013 Chris Ringland “Single Barrel” Shiraz is priced at $1250 USD.
For more information on the wines of Chris Ringland, check out his website at chrisringland.com. For US press and trade inquiries, contact Chuck Hayward at chuck@chrisringland.com. Inquiries from other countries can be directed to contact@chrisringland.com.
