The Spruce is a relatively new wine for us with the first vintage being 2017. The grapes are grown at our Adairs Lane Vineyard in the south of the region, with the soil profile being clay loams over sandstone and mudstone. The grapes are normally harvested at the same time that Shiraz is in the adjacent rows, and a fraction earlier than the Cabernet Sauvignon in the same vineyard. We choose to pick the grapes at full ripeness, somewhere between 12.5 and 13.5 baume. The choice varies from vintage to vintage depending on acid balance and flavour that the vintage is presenting. The grapes are then pressed to French oak hogsheads and puncheons of which approximately 50% are new. The wine is then mature on lees for up to 11 months with no sulphur additions prior to bottling. The Spruce is a special wine with cellaring potential of 10+ years.