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The third in a string of La Niña years in McLaren Vale, 2023 was, in fact, the region’s coolest season in decades. Andre Bondar’s preference is for wines of perfume & restrained power, so these marginal conditions and low yields played right into his hands. Picking came late in the season, giving the fruit plenty of time to hang & develop intense, complex flavour while maintaining high, fresh acid lines. The result is a joyously fragrant, spice-driven wine with full, plump palate presence, svelte structure and a bright, long finish.
Best Value Winery - Halliday Wine Awards 2026
"All Rayner vineyard and mainly from the top rows on sand, with about 10% from vines on clay and limestone. It’s a darker, spicier, moodier Violet Hour in '24. The brightness, the detail and transparency hold, but it’s more deeply invested with darker fruit and spice notes. Blackberry, black cherry, tapenade, wild fennel seeds, dark roast coffee beans, pumpernickel bread, black tea, blood and rust, cured beef, ground cassia, brown cardamom, scrubby herbs. It hits a little different, but its weight is all Violet Hour, so too its harmony, detail and vitality – and so too the extraordinary value. Give this some air, and I think a little more age will be kind to it." 95pts | Marcus Ellis | Halliday Wine Companion
“Andre Bondar and Selina Kelly approach McLaren Vale shiraz like young renovators who’ve just inherited an old mansion from an eccentric old aunt. What was once dark has had the light let in, abundant artifacts and ornate over-stuffing replaced with cleaner lines and more open space. It’s still the beautiful place it always was, but is now more appealing to a contemporary market. If you’ve always loved McLaren Vale shiraz, you’ll still be happy here, and if you didn’t think it was for you, you’ll be surprised by how quickly you feel at home.” 96pts | Nick Ryan | The Australian Top 100 Wines of 2025
Organic Principles | Sustainable Winegrowing Australia
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