Thousand Candles Gathering Field Red 2019

' Thousand Candles is a premium estate in the heart of the Yarra Valley. Its name comes from a 19th century account by a European settler, who witnessed an ancient indigenous ceremony that granted free passage into the lands around the property to various tribes. Describing the tribesman dramatically holding aloft their firesticks, he remarked that it was as if the ˜twilight of the evening had been interrupted by a thousand candles...'.Viticulturist Stuart Proud works organically and biodynamically (though uncertified) and with as little intervention in the winery as possible. Red Blend ''The fruit for this wine comes from our high density vineyard planted with Bordeaux varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec. The block has 7353 vines per hectare. Row width is 1.6m. Vines are spaced 80cm apart. The cordon wire is 50cm above the ground. We planted the block in this way to really allow the site and soil to be truly expressed in the wine. Planted in 2011 and 2012 the vines are coming into the beginning of their prime and showing an intensity of flavour and fine tannins. Each year the proportion of varieties in the blend is different but always from the same block and high density, low yielding vines. All fruit was hand picked, sorted, destemmed and fermented in small batches for 3 weeks with only an occasional pump over. Aged in older French barriques and hogsheads for 9 months.'' '