Giovanni Tait was a cooper who migrated to Barossa Valley in 1957, he took up work with B. Seppelt and Sons, where he took a hand in the élevage and maturation of the most memorable vintages. Tasteful and judicious use of oak remains an essential component of the winemaking traditions at Tait, none more so than the topical Rhone styled blend of Grenache, Mourverdre and Shiraz. Tait source fruit for the
Wild Ride from choice sites on the southern Finders ranges, treating each parcel to an individual regimen of oak, a mere thousand cases are produced.
Parcels of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre are picked off vineyards, planted to typically clay soils, only when completely physiologically ripe. All components are handled separately and are assembled into the finished wine just before bottling. Grapes are de stemmed into fermenters and pH is adjusted, for a week or more of vinification at 24C, plunged and pumped over, two or three times daily. Batches are passed through an old fashioned basket press for completion of ferments and a course of malolactic. A combination of seasoned and new American oak barrels are treated to rack and returns throughout a year's maturation, to achieve a natural clarification without the need of fining and filtration. Alcohol 15.5%
Garnet purple colour. Blackberries and cherry nose, charcoal and spiced plum notes. Juicy cherry ripe palate, darker characters of carob and bitter chocolate oak in support of boyeneberry and chewy gelatine jube flavours, its gentle framework of oak and malleable tannins around a core of ripe red berry flavours, resolving on a sweetly drying, savoury black olive finish.
