The Irish Aussie Connection

Operating out of the McLaren Vale in South Australia, Thistledown was co-founded in 2010 by Irishman Fergal Tynan. Together with fellow Master of Wine Giles Cooke, they set about breaking the widely held belief that Aussie wine too big and alcoholic for premium restaurants, creating some outstanding and award-winning wines of great elegance and balance. Below you will find two such wonderful examples.

The Great Escape Chardonnay
The Great Escape is their benchmark, cool climate Chardonnay produced from fruit grown in elevated vineyard sites which allow for a long ripening period which helps to maintain the natural sugar and acid balance of the grape. A good portion of the Great Escape always comes from their favourite vineyard which also produces their top chardonnay, Suilven. This close planted vineyard creates better shaded fruit and, along with low yields, produces wines of tight structure and immense intensity.

The Cunning Plan Shiraz
Wine making is simple with The Cunning Plan. Take perfectly balanced, just ripe fruit, pick, gently crush to preserve whole berries and allow to soak for 4 days to extract colour, aroma and fruit prior to the alcoholic fermentation which extracts more pronounced tannins. The resulting wine is bursting with fruit, wonderful purity and that characteristic Langhorne Creek plush, earthy quality. Delicious.