The Pagan Shiraz is the flagship wine for Koltz and also represents our philosophy of making handmade wines which are complex and a pleasure to drink. The Pagan is made from shiraz grapes grown on our Blewitt Springs vineyard, in the coolest, most elevated parts of McLaren Vale. The grapes are hand-picked into drying trays and taken to the winery where they are dried for 6 to 7 weeks. They are then sorted and crushed into small open fermenters where they slowly ferment and are hand plunged for 3 weeks before being basket pressed. The new wine continues to ferment for many months in oak and in total spends two years in oak before being bottled.
2017 Koltz The Pagan $50 per bottle
The Pagan is our flagship wine made in the style of amarone which is achieved by partially drying the grapes inside our winery. This produces wines of great concentration and complexity.
Picked in mid Feb, the grapes were dried for 6 weeks before crushing and then fermented for 2 weeks before pressing. The wine was then aged for 19 months in 2nd and 3rd use French oak.
The 2017 Pagan is a rich deep garnet and the aroma is dark and brooding and entices one to taste the wine.
The flavour is long and ever present and coats the mouth and lingers. Although quite powerful the wine displays a fine elegance.
As always it will drink well now but cellaring will be well rewarded for up to 20 years.
These processes are used in several regions of Italy, but in particular the amarone wines of Valpolicella use this method to make their complex and intriguing wines. The Pagan is made with the same motivation and to produce interesting wines with a different interpretation of shiraz.
Shiraz grapes for The Pagan hand-picked into racks ready for drying in the winery
What we are trying to achieve with The Pagan is a complex wine with layers of flavour, fine structure and persistence. The Pagan is a big wine yet displays elegance and finesse. The Italians describe this style of wine as meditation wine, wine worth thinking about and wine to have while thinking.
Great with rich and flavoursome food, big steaks or pasta but comes into its own with Gorgonzola cheese.
