Blend

Vineyard

Wine Growing

The fruit for the Streicker Nysa is grown in the A Block of Clairault Vineyard in Wilyabrup. Situated in the northern end of the Margaret River Wine Region along the Indian Ocean coast in Western Australia, the region stretches 100km from north to south. A maritime-influenced Mediterranean climate and ancient gravelly soils give Margaret River ideal conditions for premium viticulture. 

Within the A Block are the original Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon plantings, first planted in 1976. This site is one of the earliest in the region and ideally suited to Cabernet varieties, sitting atop a hill with well-drained loamy gravel and granite soils. The site enjoys cool sea breezes during the warmer summer months, providing the perfect balance for ripening. The A Block has been carefully developed on an open lyre trellis system to balance both solarisation and cooling of the fruit zone and canopy. 

The fruit at A Block has shown exceptional balance and quality resulting in the Clairault Streicker flagship, Streicker Nysa. 

Vintage Conditions

The 2016 vintage season in Margaret River was generally warm and dry up to the third week in January. The relatively dry winter combined with a warmer growing season corresponded to vines achieving good shoot lengths and making the transition from vegetative growth to fruiting growth a little earlier than normal; a great feature for fruit quality. Our dry growing season was quenched on 19th March, 2016 with 50mm of rain, enough to wash the dust off the vine leaves, top up the dry soil profiles and carry the vines through to full ripeness. The resulting wines are fragrant with succulent natural acidities, lovely textures and intense aromatic lift.

Winemaking Note

The fruit is hand-picked early in the morning, whilst the berries are still cool. It is destemmed and lightly crushed, so that each berry is barely split. Fermentation ensues, allowing slow, more controlled extraction of tannin and flavour. The wine is pumped over three times a day, then judiciously backed off as the wine develops. It then soaks on its skins for 14 days, before gentle pressing and barrelling down.

The Cabernet Sauvignon portion is aged in French oak barriques for 15 months. The Cabernet Franc on the other hand, requires a gentle ageing platform and environment, and so, is aged in larger French oak puncheons for 15 months. 

The finest barrels are meticulously chosen to contribute myriad intricacies to the final blend of the Streicker Nysa. 

Tasting Notes

Bristling red fruit and graphite favours on the entry. The palate starts and finishes with unbridled fine bone tannin throughout, laced with flavours of cherry glaze, violets and slate. Finishes with liquorice and bruised violet petals.

Cellaring

Cellaring is a very much a personal preference and based on an individual’s palate. If you like bright, fresh, primary fruit, enjoy this wine over the next 8 years. If you prefer the tannins to soften and complex savoury notes to develop, careful cellaring of up to 20 years will be rewarded.