Recent allocation. Orders dispatched week of 14 September.

LVDO is the project of Marcell Kustos, a producer driven by experimentation, curiosity and a willingness to let time shape his wines. Some of his most ambitious ideas require patience, and this extraordinary release is the result of exactly that approach.

Made from Syrah grown in Greenock in the Barossa Valley, from a vineyard planted in 1992 at 300 metres elevation on limestone and fragmented schist, this is a wine that sits completely outside conventional categories. After an experiment with oxidative ageing inspired by the great wines of López de Heredia, one small barrel was set aside and allowed to evolve over an extraordinary 40 months in barrel.

The result sits somewhere between a rosé and a light red, combining richness and texture with remarkable freshness. Expect a deeply savoury and yeasty character, layers of umami and rosehip fruit, finely resolved tannins and a bone-dry finish, lifted by the chalky acidity often associated with vintage Champagne.

As Max Allen wrote in the Australian Financial Review, the wine has developed a “deeply delicious undertow of savoury umami, rosehip fruit and a bone-dry finish” and has the structure to age beautifully.

A completely singular Australian wine—thought-provoking, complex and impossible to categorise.

Only 270 bottles produced.