Two Hands Wines is a leading world-class winery established in 1999 with the goal of making the best possible wines from prized growing regions throughout Australia. Known for creating handcrafted wines of quality without compromise, Two Hands showcase the diversity of its fruit by highlighting regional characteristics associated with each vineyard, and allowing the fruit to be the primary feature of the wines. Gnarly Dudes is a big, bold Barossa Valley Shiraz named for the twisted trunks of old Shiraz vines that, year after year, yield a crop of beautiful fruit that is tamed and put in the bottle. Yes, the “Dude” from the movie The Big Lebowski was also an inspiration. Approachable now, the wine will reward with additional cellar aging.
Matured for 12 months in French oak, which 13% was new, and the remainder in one to six year old puncheons and hogsheads.
The fruit was crushed into and fermented in 3, 5, 7 and 10 ton open top vessels. Regular pump overs three times daily were performed during the peak of fermentation to extract flavors, color, and tannins. At pressing, the free run and pressings were combined to tank, then racked to barrel for oak maturation where malolactic fermentation occurred.
Fruit Forward, Full Bodied, Spicy
Lovely lifted notes of olive, violets, blackcurrant, blood plum and fresh raspberries.
The palate shows pure rich and ripe fruits. It holds an amazing depth and persistence, continuing to roll and roll along with long finish. With a fire line of concentrated fruits, this is yum plus. Lip-smacking is the best way to describe the sensation. As always with Gnarly Dudes the secret to soft and velvety tannins stem straight from the magic of Barossa Valley fruit itself. The tannins are the focus of the late palate here, defined, proud and succulent.