PROVENANCE

2003 Geelong Shiraz      -     aged cellar release

VINEYARD

Fruit for this wine is grown on a north-east slope, approximately 5 km south of the township of Bannockburn. The topsoil is red sandy loam over an ironstone gravel layer which in turn covers a mix of red clay and limestone subsoils. This soil combination grows vines of moderate vigour. Cool night-time temperatures in its valley location ensure a long slow ripening period, leading to excellent natural acid retention. The vines are cane pruned to a VSP trellis system. Yields are maintained at 1-2 tonnes per acre. The 2002/2003 growing season is the third that the vineyard was farmed using organic principles.

HARVEST & WINEMAKING

Dry conditions throughout the growing season resulted in quite small berries and very low yields of 1 tonne per acre. The fruit was hand harvested at peak maturity in mid-April. Winemaking included destemmed whole berries to open fermenters, a warm fermentation of up to 32˚C, with 2% Viognier co-fermented. 10 days post fermentation the wine was pressed away from skins to French oak barriques, 22% of which were new. Natural MLF took place in the barriques where it was matured for 16 months. The wine was blended and filtered prior to being bottling.

TASTING NOTE - 7 Sep 2011