Vintage
The 2005 Margaret River vintage can only be described as exceptional. Warm sunny days and crisp, cool nights made for ideal fruit ripening conditions. In addition to this the relatively dry growing season ensured a crop of disease-free fruit. Flavour and acidity levels are at their optimum in this vintage year.
Harvest:
The fruit for this wine was machine-harvested in March of 2005.
Viticulture:
All fruit utilised in this wine was sourced from our Margaret River Estate vineyard.
Label Integrity
98% Shiraz (Margaret River), 2% Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaking
Immediately after harvest the fruit was destemmed and crushed to 10 and 20 tonne static fermenters. Both rack and return and pumpovers were used for extraction and cap management during the fermentation which took place using a selected yeast strain. After fermentation the wine was drained, skins pressed with the pressings going back in with the free-run wine. The wine was then inoculated with a known MLF strain. Post MLF, further racking took place to oak. Following this oak maturation the wine was blended and filtered to bottle.
Oak Treatment:
90% in American oak barriques with 70% of these as one year old barrels and the remainder as two year old barrels. Minimum of 12 months maturation in these barrels.
Tasting Notes
Colour
Dark cherry red with a magenta hue.
Nose:
This really has a classic Shiraz nose with savoury spicy elements of pepper, anise and clove really lifting out of the glass. Oak is very much in the background and rightly so, beautiful fruit.
Palate:
A big mouthfeel of savoury sweet fruit with bags of spice and hints of smoky oak filling out the palate. This is a full-bodied wine with some grip and power from both extraction and tannins. This wine drinks well now but will only mellow and age gracefully over the next ten years.
Assessment (of the 2003)
“Abundant blackberry/black cherry/chocolate and spice mix; medium-bodied; good tannin structure and controlled American oak. No reduction. Screwcap. Rating 93.”
James Halliday, Invinity Fine Wine Broker, Tuesday 2nd August 2005.
“Sweet berry fruit combines with spice, pepper and smoky oak on the nose and palate, with fine tannins on the finish. Try it now with roast beef or lamb or cellar for several years.”
Courier Mail, Mike Frost, Saturday 17 September 2005.
“Up-front toasty oak aromas with layers of blackberries, cloves and licorice underneath. Well structured palate of ripe plums, tons of oak and rich, grippy tannins.”
Wine State Magazine.
“A big wine loaded with flavour – still fresh. The aromas are of ripe plum and mocha. Palate has plenty of sweet plum fruit, oak and soft tannins, with a slightly drying finish”.
Winestate, March/April/July 2006
“This is a pretty awesome example of Margaret River shiraz. It has substantial tannins and weight with plenty of oak that’s been gobbled up by the super contrasted fruit. A powerful and imposing wine that will continue to improve with cellaring.”
Ray Jordan Review from The West Australian, 20th July 2006
“Beautiful, spicy, brooding fruit bouquet. Lovely length of ripe jubey fruit on a very spice warm palate. Drinking well now but has potential to age further.”
South Western Australia Regional Tasting – Winestate, March-April 2007
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