Altera Terra

The project is the next chapter in the winemaking story of Doug Neal, formerly of the brilliant - and now no longer - Paradise IV.While the demise of the vineyard (which Neal did not own) is one of the more shocking and sad episodes in recent times, the legacy of the Paradise IV bottlings up to the final release 18 months ago left an indelible mark on the many fans amongst our customers. The wines also announced Neal as a formidable talent, albeit one who has flown under-the-radar for much of his winemaking career. Before Paradise IV finished, Neal had been working on the next stanza. His years learning under Giaconda's Rick Kinzbrunner as well as a growing list of consulting successes had honed his vision and understanding of the processes needed to give "voice" to ideas that had been percolating and taking form for decades.One of these was his aim to produce Shiraz that held elegance and nuance as well as density of flavour like those he had tasted in the northern Rhone valley (a feature of the Paraduse IV Dardel in fact) so when a mature vineyard, planted on granite, with multiple clones and at altitude in Murrumbateman became available for long term contract, the stars started to align on his new project, Altera Terra...Another Land.