The Padthaway region is located in the Limestone Coast of South Eastern Australia. The name comes from the term Potawurutj, which is the Aboriginal term meaning good water. In the 1800s, the region was covered with freshwater and was often called “Mosquito Plains”. Padthaway was the name of a pastoral station built in the region by Robert Lawson, a Scottish businessman, who named his new home Padthaway station. The government took parts of Lawson’s lease and sold it at the “Village of Cockatoo Lake”. The Padthaway region is roughly 62 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide, and includes the Riddoch Highway running through the center. There are over 4,000 hectares of vineyards planted with various grape types such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chadonnay, and Shiraz. In recent years, plantings of Riesling, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir have started to grow in popularity. In 1944, the region was recommended for horticulture because of rich and fertile soil, underground water supply, and ideal coastal climate. Vineyards first started to appear in the 1960s and they quickly blossomed in the region. The first vineyards were introduced by Seppelt, which were followed by other vineyards including Lindemans, Wynns, and Hardys.
Mt Monster Shiraz is 100 percent Shiraz
Deep purple in color. Ripe cassis and black plum fruits on the nose with violets. Varietal fruit-driven palate, with cassis and dark berryfruit and spice flavors. Soft tannins compliment the fruit with mouth-filling generous finish.
French & American oak has been used sparingly to ensure maximum fruit expression is retained in the final wine.
Our Shiraz is fermented in static fermenters at controlled temperatures to retain the varietal aromatics. Once complete the wine is left for 7–10 days on skins to aide in the extraction of soft fleshy tannins and build wine structure.
All older vintage wines have been purchased from a single collectors cellar. Pictures can be requested before shipment.
For many wine lovers or consumers, wine tasting is the preserve of professionals or real connoisseurs. People still have this image of it being a complex, technical, precise and highly-formalised process. In fact, wine tasting isn’t and shouldn’t be just that. No, it should be straightforward, convivial, interesting and fun. Tasting a wine should provoke curiosity, excitement, pleasure and dreams…
When you taste a Château du Retout wine, you use all five of your senses: the sense of touch when you pick up the bottle to gauge its temperature, the sense of hearing which allows you to enjoy the sound of he popping of the cork and the wine being poured into the glass, and then, of course, you use your senses of sight, smell and taste when you drink the wine:
The Médoc grape varieties and soils give us wines with superb, dense, dark hues, ranging from deep garnet to ruby-crimson, taking on brick red shades with orange tints with age.
Very intense and expressive aromas with powerful notes of black fruit such as blackcurrants and blackberries. In older wines, the nose develops a spicy bouquet of liquorice, leather and marshmallow mingled with the vanilla scents created by well-integrated oak.
Harmonious, elegant and velvety, with smooth, round tannins, that can be appreciated from the wine's entry to the palate through to the finish. These are delightfully full-bodied wines with great aromatic persistence.
Review:
"Shows the ripeness of the vintage, with dark currant and blackberry framed by singed cedar and vanilla. Ends with a tug of warm earth, a light twang of iron and a steady grip. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Drink now through 2034."
- Wine Spectator (TOP 100 wines of 2024), 92 pts and #45 on Top100