in the vineyard : Cultivar: Shiraz
Clones: SH1, SH9, SH99, SH22, SH21, SH35
Rootstock: R99 and Mgt 101-14
Age: 11 years
Soil: Structured red soils with coarse gravel and weathered shale soils.
in the cellar : Fermentation:
The grapes were hand-picked in the early morning and force cooled to 4° C. It was then bunch sorted, destemmed and berry sorted on vibration tables by 25 highly trained staff. The berries were gently crushed into a satellite tank and deposited in open and closed fermenters. The must was dejuiced by 10 to 14% depending on the vineyard. It was given a cold soak of 3 to 5 days at 9° C protected by a CO2 blanket. The juice was pumped over once daily during this period.
The tanks were then heated to 18° C and inoculated with BM45, L2056 and D254 yeast. The fermentation temperature was allowed to peak at 28° C and then brought down to 24° C. The fermenting cap was punched down three times daily and one pump-over was done per day. Total time on the skins varies from 14 to 26 days. The wine was then pressed into 35% new and 65% second-fill 300l Allier French oak barrels. The press fraction was separated. Malolactic bacteria were inoculated and malolactic fermentation was completed in the barrels.
After malolactic fermentation, the wines were given a low sulphur dose and left on the gross lees for 11 months. The wine was then racked, blended and returned to barrels. After a total of 18 months in barrels, the wine was filtered through a coarse sheet filter. Bottling was done with a fine sheet filtration. The wine was bottle matured for 12 months prior to release.