Vinaceous Shakre Chardonnay 2023

Vinaceous launched in 2007 as a Western Australian collaboration between three operators: Nick Stacy (then Sales & Marketing Manager at West Cape Howe, who became Vinaceous's founding Managing Director), Michael Kerrigan (winemaker and partner at Hay Shed Hill in Margaret River), and Gavin Berry (winemaker and partner at West Cape Howe in Great Southern). The model was deliberately non-traditional for the WA wine industry: rather than build an estate, the partners sourced fruit across the Great Southern and Margaret River regions and built the brand around varietal-specific bottlings with distinctive label artwork and product names.

The Vinaceous range is fruit-driven and varietal-led, drawing from the deep WA region pool: Margaret River for Cabernet, Sauvignon-Sémillon and Chardonnay; Great Southern for Shiraz and Riesling. The label artwork — coiled snakes, religious iconography, painted skulls, Salomé-and-John-the-Baptist imagery — set the brand apart from the heritage-Cabernet Margaret River trade. The wines themselves work the standard varietal targets: cool-climate concentration on the white side, ripe-fruit Shiraz on the red side.

In 2020, Nick Stacy separated from Vinaceous, taking the Reverend V and Clandestine Vineyards labels he had created with him; he now runs Clandestine Vineyards alongside his wife Trudy. Vinaceous continues under the Kerrigan / Berry partnership. The current range carries the Snake Charmer Shiraz, Voodoo Moon Malbec, Salomé Pinot Gris, Red Right Hand Shiraz-Grenache-Tempranillo blend, Raconteur Cabernet Sauvignon, Burlesque Sparkling, and a roster of seasonal limited releases.