The Dead Letter Office Shiraz is usually a McLaren Vale dominate blend, though for the 2008 Dead Letter Office Shiraz fruit harvested after the heat-wave was not used and therefore the proportions are 62% Padthaway and 38% McLaren Vale. Very deep purple-black in color, it gives intense ripe plum, blackberry and kirsch aromas with some pencil shavings and chocolate plus whiffs of mint and undergrowth. Very concentrated and rich, this full-bodied Shiraz is well structured with crisp acid and medium-firm fine grained tannins. There’s still a suggestion of oak apparent in the long finish. Approachable now, it should continue to drink to 2016+. In the remote, Limestone Coast sub-region of Padthaway (just north of Coonawarra and slightly warmer), Henry’s Drive has been producing well made, regionally expressive and well priced wines since 1998. All the vineyards here are family owned so the wines are made from estate grown fruit with the majority of the plantings in Padthaway at the base of north-south hills and some on the hills, planted to a mix of terra rossa and sandy loam soils. In 2006 they purchased a 30 acre vineyard in McLaren Vale with the fruit featuring in the Dead Letter Office blend.Importer: Quintessential Wines, Napa, CA; tel. (914) 725-3479