Lake's Folly Red Blend 2022

This wine is in a class of its own, personifying elegance, distinctiveness and originality. It defies conventional stereotypes, and thankfully so! This does not look like a Hunter wine, nor does it look like its unorthodox blend of 47/34/19% shiraz/merlot/petit verdot, all estate-grown. But it does look like a Lake's Folly, with all its purity, layers, perfume, composure and harmony. Few wineries have such a powerful and consistent style signature, and for this, it deserves high praise. Unashamedly medium-bodied with an ever-so-fine palate packed with notes of damson plum, cherry brandy, white roses, native violet and tuberose. It is graceful and has finesse and clarity in a way that few wines do. The oak handling has been exceptional, and the tannins are near-silent but ever-present. And all this in a challenging year. Bravo. Toni Paterson, Halliday Wine Companion

A first for Lake's Folly, this year's Red is a blend of Shiraz 47%, Merlot 34%, and Petit Verdot 19%...The finished result: a unique, unprecedented blend - a cracking wine (albeit without our usual Cabernet component), though in very limited quantities this release! The fruit is open-fermented producing softer, more subtle tannins, and then transferred to large format casks for six months for settling, and then into small French oak barriques (new, one, and two-year-old) for approximately one year before bottling. Bright, lifted fruits of mulberries and hints of cedary oak. This wine is clean and vibrant with lovely richness from generous fruits; again, mulberries dominate the palate. Wonderful balance, perfect supporting French oak and fine-grained tannins – yum! Lovely as a young wine, though should also imagine it as a great 10+ years prospect - even without its typical Cabernet component. Rodney Kempe, Chief Winemaker, Lake's Folly