Adelaide Hills winery Longview is well known for its 100 per cent estate grown Shiraz, but not so well known for having one of the largest collections of graffiti art in Australia.
The release of the 2016 The Piece Shiraz by Longview has paid tribute to this collection, which has been amassed over eight years of holding its ‘The Piece Project’. The event sees four of Australia’s best street artists battle it out to grace the label of Longivew’s premium Shiraz, The Piece.
Longview Director, Mark Saturno said: “Every year, we are blown away by what we see getting ‘bombed-up’ by these spray-can controllers, making the judges job to award a winner harder and harder.”
On the label of the 2016 The Piece Shiraz is by Morris Green, Saturno added: “Morris Green’s tattoo work has always impressed us, and his large murals continue to venture into impressive territory each time he does a piece. But this is on another level, even for him.
“An astounding example of photo-realism, it’s hard to believe that this piece was created completely with aerosol. Utilising the hues of the vineyard as a backdrop, the native Blue ‘Fairy’ Wren pops out to show its splendour.
“The birds change colour every year, from dull brown to bright blue, not dissimilar to the changing palette of Longview Vineyard through the seasons.”
Speaking about the wine, Saturno said: “Every year we are astounded by the complexities our Shiraz fruit presents to us. Each vintage we identify, not only the best blocks of Shiraz on the vineyard but the best rows. These are hand-picked, berry and bunch sorted, cold soaked and pressed into one-tonne open fermenters. Fifteen per cent whole bunch.
“After a cool primary ferment, the wine goes through MLF in old French Hogsheads and stays there for 18 months. We then select the best 10 barrels that showcase the perfect balance of blue/black berry fruits and cool-climate spice and length. The wine is then racked, blended and bottled.”
The wine is available at $46.30 LUC, $49.60 with the spray can packaging and carries a $90 RRP.