On May 31, gin distillery Four Pillars will launch the 2022 edition of its smash hit Bloody Shiraz Gin, made with locally sourced grapes.
First produced in 2015, Bloody Shiraz Gin has become on of the most iconic gin bottlings of Australian distilling.
The spirit combines Four Pillars’ flagship Rare Dry Gin with the juice of ripe Shiraz grapes, adding red fruit sweetness to the gin’s spicy, citrussy character.
The 2022 Limited Edition bottling is made with grapes grown in the Yarra Valley and surrounding Victorian cool-climate vineyards, with Four Pillars Co-Founder and Distiller, Cam Mackenzie, highlighting the difficulties of the vintage.
“This year’s vintage was not without its challenges with much of Victoria receiving rain and hail at the exact time the vines didn’t need it, around a third of the way through growing season,” Mackenzie said.
“The weather wiped out a lot of the crop leading to some of the lowest yields on record, but after a wobbly start to the season the weather remained mild allowing for vibrant and bright fruit to mature. The low cropping created an intensity of flavour we have not seen in a long time.”
Four Pillars have made it traditional to feature an artwork on the limited-edition bottle, with this year’s label provided by Australian artist and photographer, Luke Shadbolt.
The collaboration was prompted by a chance meeting between Four Pillars Co-Founder, Matt Jones, and Shadbolt in late 2021.
Jones commented on the ‘liquid as solid’ quality of Shadbolt’s images, and the artist was inspired to create the label for this year’s Bloody Shiraz Limited Edition – a copper etching of one his photographs that recalls Hokusai’s The Great Wave. The artwork is printed directly onto the glass, and depicts a waveform against a ‘wine-dark’ nightscape.
Accompanying this release is a Bloody Shiraz Gin chocolate, produced by Four Pillars in partnership with Hunted + Gathered (who have previously worked with the distillery on its Rare Dry Gin chocolate).
This project began after Gin Master, Matt Wilkinson, was searching for a way to repurpose the grape skins leftover from the this gin’s production.
The end result is a 100 per cent Australian-made chocolate, flavoured with dehydrated Bloody Shiraz grape skins, alongside cashews and sultanas. Actually a white chocolate, the grape skins provide a purple colour that makes the finished product look a lot like dark chocolate.
Bloody Shiraz Gin recently won both Gold Medal and Best of Category in the International Flavour Gin Category in the 2022 American Distilling Institute’s International Spirits Competition.
Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz Gin will be available for purchase from 31 May 2022
from bottle shops nationwide, with an RRP $85 per 700ml bottle.
The 2022 limited edition label will be available from www.fourpillarsgin.com, at the Four Pillars Distillery, Healesville, Vic and Four Pillars Lab, Surry Hills, Sydney only. A bundle of the gin and the chocolate is available at these locations, and from the Four Pillars website, for an RRP of $90.