The Opportunity

For over 20 years, our founders crossed paths through-out the industry’s many events, tastings and waystations, forming a friendship grounded in the shared passion of wine, storytelling, and community. Icon fruit from icon vineyards rarely become available, and while others erred, they chose to ‘Seize the Day’ leading to an amazing opportunity and pursuit of a life-long dream. A dalliance into the world of icon wines, with parcels of fruit from one of Australia’s most celebrated regions and vineyards.

Now reunited, we present Dalliance, a small-parcel Shiraz drawn from a single block in the famed Marananga sub-region, surrounded by iconic neighbours including Torbreck, Peter Lehmann, Two Hands and Seppeltsfield.

Produced only in exceptional vintages, this wine is a pure and unapologetic expression of place. Aromatically it reveals layers of red plum, black pepper and Barossa spice. The palate is rich and ripe, driven by dense fruit concentration and framed by fine, authoritative tannins. A velvety texture carries through to a long, confident finish, offering immediate pleasure while promising significant cellaring potential.

Fermentation was conducted over 7–10 days, followed by up to 14 days on skins, with 3–5 pump-overs per day to maximise colour, flavour and tannin extraction. The wine was then pressed to French oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and matured for approximately 18 months.

Each barrel was individually assessed throughout ageing, with the final blend selected jointly by Sam and Russ to achieve optimal balance, structure and regional definition. Following blending, the wine rested in bottle for a further 12 months prior to release.

The result is a seamless, deeply integrated Shiraz of power, precision and longevity.