Kershaw Elgin Syrah 2015

Heady aromas of lavender, black cherry, plum and cracked black pepper. On the palate it is already complex and savoury with dried orange peel & banana bread wrapped around a deep core of soft centred berries, exotic spice (5 spice) and melted rich dark chocolate elegantly set on powder fine tannins which have finesse and persistence


variety : Shiraz [ 100% Syrah made up of clones SH9c, SH22 & SH99 ]
winemaker : Richard Kershaw MW
wine of origin : Elgin
analysis : alc : 14.42 % vol  rs : 1.7 g/l  pH : 3.58  
type : Red   wooded
pack : Bottle  size : 750ml  closure : Cork  

about the harvest: Copious rain during the early half of winter and respectable cold units meant thevines underwent decent winter dormancy. A wet yet warmer August resulted in earlierbudbreak yet cold evenings kept mildew infections at bay. Cooler nights continued wellinto spring ensuring an even budbreak and more importantly across all bearers givingbetter spacing within the eventual canopy. Dry conditions into late spring enabled aperfect flowering and subsequent shoot growth. A dry and warm summer without excessive heatwaves meant that berry set was unhindered and véraison took place15 days early. Healthy picture-perfect grapes were harvested 2 weeks early capturing fabulous acid levels, purity of flavour and incredible textures.As a net result 2015 has described as a superlative year.

in the cellar : The grapes were handpicked under autumnal skies into small lug baskets and then manually sorted on a conveyor before the stems were removed. The destemmed berries fell onto a vibrating table in order to remove jacks and substandard berries before dropping uncrushed into a small 500kg conical hopper and forklifted into open-topped fermenters. The grapes underwent a 3-day maceration before spontaneous fermentation began.A gentle pigeage program was charted and the grapes remained on skins for 21-26 days. The wine was then racked to barrel under gravity and the remainingpomace basket-pressed. Malolactic then proceeded in barrel followed by a light sulphuring and 17-month maturation. No finings were necessary and the wine was simply racked and bottled unfiltered. A small number of artisanal coopers were selected from Burgundy and Rhone, with only French oak chosen. 45% of the oak was new with the remainder split into 2nd and 3rd fill barrels of which 5 were 500L puncheons and the remainder 228L pièces.

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Shiraz
Shiraz
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