The legend of Bulls Blood originates from the unsuccessful attack on Hungarian troops in Eger by the Turks in 1552. The heavily outnumbered Hungarians saw their fate approaching and decided that, rather than fight a losing battle, they would just drink red wine. This proved to be to their advantage as their red-stained beards and crazed eyes terrified the Turks, who thought they had been drinking Bull’s Blood to give them extra strength. The Turks fled, leaving the Hungarians to turn their drunken solace into drunken revelry.

Our history with this wine goes back some 25 years. My father started the blend and with his Hungarian ancestry called it Bull's Blood. I have tinkered with the style over the years and am now comfortable with a blend of 70% shiraz and 30% mataro (mouvedre).

Veritas owns a magnificent old block of mataro just behind the winery which is probably over 100 years old. All the mataro is sourced off this block and this places a cap on what can be made each vintage. It varies with crop levels to between 500-600 cases.

The source of the shiraz is our vineyard called the Western Ridge and this provides about 70% of the total. This shiraz is full bodied and is matured in new and old shaven oak. The mataro is the tricky grape. It is easy to swamp the flavours (which are surprisingly delicate) so old shaven French oak is used. Each year a few barrels of shiraz do not measure up to the standard of our flagship wines, the Hanisch and Heysen, and they are also added to the final blend.