DANDELION VINEYARDS LIONESS of McLAREN VALE SHIRAZ 2021

Platinum Medal – Sommelier Challenge, International Wine & Spirit Competition 2022
Gold Medal – Melbourne International Wine Competition 2023
Gold Medal – Great Australian Shiraz Challenge 2022
Gold Medal – McLaren Vale Wine Show 2023
Gold Medal – Sakura Japan Women’s Wine Awards 2023
Gold Medal – China Wine & Spirits Awards 2023
Gold Medal – AWC Vienna Wine Challenge 2023
Gold Medal – Women’s W&S Awards 2023
Gold Medal – Global Syrah Masters 2023

Winery notes (2021 Vintage)
"Dandelion Vineyards is a unique fusion of vineyards and vignerons. Our wines represent decades of experience, blending the fruit of our old vine gardens with the finest traditions of artisan winemaking. Dandelion Vineyards are proven plantings that have stood the test of time. Our wish is to nurture the unique character of these vineyards and express their terroir in our wines.

A strong aromatic McLaren Vale shiraz identity: violets, roses, blackberry, and white chocolate freshly grated. Plummy, with macerated blueberries and a hint of Christmas Cake’s bouquet. A rounded, fruity yet structured and ordered savoury mouthful of giving red wine. Flavours of freshly picked dark berries and dark berry jams. And there’s a deftness to the flavour, too – something akin to Summer Pudding’s lift and bounce. These flavours are held taut by acid’s line and tannin length. McLaren Vale in excelsius.

After hand picking whole bunches of our Lioness of McLaren Vale in the first week of March our winemaker Elena Brooks let the whole bunches ferment together in open top fermenters with ambient yeasts and hand plunging for 12 days, before basket pressing into some new but predominately older French Oak barriques, to then mature for a further 18 months in the same oak, before bottling without fining or filtration to capture the essence of the vineyard. Although ready to drink the Lioness of McLaren Vale will also reward cellaring and decanting."

5 Stars & 94/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, September 2024 (2021 Vintage)
"Seductively perfumed and inviting with blackberry, toasted spice, game and roasted nut aromas, it's succulent and supple in the mouth delivering excellent weight and expansive mouthfeel. Gorgeously composed and expressed, making it delectably appealing. At its best: now to 2038."