Shop/Shiraz, Syrah & Blends/Main & Cherry Shiraz
McLaren Vale, Australia
Main & Cherry Shiraz 2025
Main & Cherry (Michael Sexton)
Two-vineyard McLaren Vale Shiraz — plush Sellicks Hill fruit, Clarendon lift.
$26.99$30.00
Vintage may change. If it does, we’ll notify you of any price adjustment before dispatch.
About
Shiraz drawn from two contrasting parcels: a certified-organic block on Hahn Road at Sellicks Hill for richness and plush dark fruit, and the cooler, higher home block at Clarendon for lift, structure and finesse. Gently fermented in small open fermenters for 12 to 16 days, basket pressed, then matured twelve months in French and American oak. Layers of blackberry, ripe plum and subtle spice ride velvety tannins — fruit-driven, lively and generous.
The pest control at Main & Cherry is a gang of Indian Runner ducks. Michael Sexton runs them through the vines instead of spraying. The rest of the work follows suit: by hand, and through a small basket press he prefers to any machine.
The Clarendon home block was bought as an established vineyard and holds 2.4 hectares of Shiraz and just under a hectare of Grenache. It sits higher and cooler than the Sellicks Hill parcel, which is why it brings the lift in this blend. Before 2010 the family's Shiraz was sold off to other wineries. The first wine under their own label changed that.
The cellar door is at Chandlers Hill, half an hour south of Adelaide. Mike's own pairing is slow-cooked lamb shawarma, and we would not argue. Drink it now, with a light chill in summer.
Producer note
Michael Sexton grew up on the family property at Cherry Gardens in the Adelaide Hills — the brand takes its name from Main Road, Cherry Gardens — and graduated in oenology from the University of Adelaide in 2003. The first single-vineyard Shiraz under the Main & Cherry label was made in 2010, and the family now farms about 4.5 hectares across Cherry Gardens and Clarendon.
Structure
Grape
Picked on Stef's structure profile.
