Spring Seed S/run Shiraz 2022

Scarlet Runner is the Bosworth family's mid-weight McLaren Vale Shiraz, now in its 15th vintage. The 2022 fruit was picked flavour- and sugar-ripe, fermented in open vessels, then matured for around nine months in older oak barrels — mostly older French oak with a small amount of American oak and only around 10% new oak, so the wood sits quietly rather than dominating. It shows red plums and blackberries on the nose with a hint of dark chocolate and liquorice, following through onto a palate of lovely supple tannins and a long, satisfying finish.

The fruit grows at Willunga, in the southern foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges at the eastern edge of McLaren Vale. The vineyards sit about 130 metres up. The Gulf St Vincent to the west sends cool breezes through summer and the ranges behind give shelter. The climate is Mediterranean, winter rain and dry summers, with almost no frost risk.

Every Bosworth vineyard is Australian Certified Organic, and has been for 30 years. Joch Bosworth took over the family farm in 1995 and converted it to organics with partner Louise Hemsley-Smith. Nobody in McLaren Vale had done it before. The land was Grange Farm, an almond and stone fruit orchard his parents turned to vines in the 1970s. Spring Seed is the family's lighter-touch organic range, its labels drawn from vintage flower seed packets.

Drink it now with a lamb roast or a mushroom risotto.