“ Only the best possible
   parcels of fruit are
   sourced for our wines.
   Quality is paramount.”

Founders Mark Herbertt, Paddy Phillips & Michael Szwarcbord

PHILOSOPHY

We set up SCORPIIION as a vehicle to pursue a clear philosophy - source the best fruit and then engage top winemakers to make a distinctive wine or two for us each year.

We share a number of likes and dislikes in relation to Australian red wines which underpin this philosophy. We look for a fruit driven style with fine grained tannins underscored by top quality oak. We share a strong dislike of overoaked, musty wines where the fruit is either not up to scratch or masked by over-oaking. We also share a very strong dislike of "dead" and "burnt" wines where fruit is picked so late or at such high Baumes that the wine lacks the freshness, lifted fruit and life that great red wines should have.

In delivering our philosophy we generally use a mix of old and new oak and insist on very careful oak handling. We source the best fruit but don't subscribe to the popular view that "old vines = best fruit". Time and time again we see great fruit coming from relatively young vines. However we do believe in terroir and source our fruit from great locations where the vignerons are obsessive about quality and keep the vines in balance to produce relatively low yields. Typically we look at 2 - 2.5 tonnes an acre and a strong history of producing high quality fruit. We work closely with our growers and always pick on flavour, not at a pre-determined Baume or on a convenient date.

We share a final dislike that we believe holds for anyone who loves great wine and that is cork taint. Our wines are optimised for Stelvin seals and will be under Stelvin until a better closure method appears.

Finally we all believe that great wine should be fun and try to describe our wines factually and in approachable, non-pretentious language.