Vigneron Adrian Hoffmann and winemaker Chris Ringland have been working together for more than 25 years to develop the Hoffmann Vineyard signature labels; Chris Ringland Shiraz North Barossa, Chris Ringland Dimchurch and Chris Ringland Hoffmann Vineyard. However, Adrian’s input into selecting specific parcels from the Hoffmann Family vineyard, located in the Ebenezer district of the Northern Barossa, extends beyond Shiraz. In any given season, if he observes something special developing with parcels of Grenache, Mataro, Carignan, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese or Zinfandel, he’ll propose that we ferment a special batch.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Often-times we’ll discover that we have something very special in the cellar.

Occasionally, a specific Shiraz vineyard from one of the 12 local growers that contribute to Chris Ringland Reservation and Chris Ringland North Barossa may be singled out. That’s how the Doris Block Shiraz vineyard bottling came to be. It’s an opportunity to portray the complexity and unique characteristics of the vintage. We’ll taste the barrels to classify our wines and every now and then we’ll decide to bottle one of these special lots as a stand alone offering. The 2017 Cabernet/Mataro blend derived its inspiration from a wine that Chris makes in Spain, Bodegas El Nido “Clio”. Look out for bottling of Carignan, Sangiovese and Zinfandel in the future. It may never be repeated, or it may return for an encore performance every now and then. We’ll usually bottle these special offerings under the “Limit Lodge” label, although sometimes the name of the individual vineyard ( for example, Doris Block Shiraz ) will be used.