2022 Ochota Barrels 'Textures Like Sun' Red Blend. Adelaide Hills-SA - 750ML.
The label may be completely illegible with its utterly lurid and almost painful yellow label. “That’s the idea”, said Taras back in 2018. “It’s something in a clear bottle, released in Spring, nothing to hide, yummy.” This wine has always been about the result and not the components, with each vintage changing quite a bit in the ‘how’s’ and ‘what’s’. The name of the wine is taken from lyrics from the song ‘Golden Brown’ by The Stranglers as it was the song Taras and Amber danced to at their wedding. 2024 marks the fourth vintage of a new era at Ochota Barrels with Amber taking control in the vineyards and cellar following the tragic passing of her husband, Taras. This vintage is dominated by Blewitt Springs Grenache, with smaller portions of Syrah, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier from vineyards scattered throughout McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills.
The fruit was hand-picked with only the best fruit being used. The clusters were kept separate and cold soaked for a few days, then fermentation kicked off naturally in small, open-top fermenters with 60% of the clusters intact and the remainder de-stemmed. The fruit was hand plunged multiple times a day over the course of about 7-12 days prior to being basket-pressed to old French barriques for aging. Amber made the barrel selections for the blend after a few months of aging then blended the wines to tank to settle. It was bottled without fining and just a small addition of sulfur and a pad filtration. - VSI Wine.
