2003 BcH Shiraz

A bouquet that is almost crammed with enticing aromas, displaying an amalgam of complex smells. Blackberry nip, kirsch, cola, mocha and vanilla. A solid wine with that heralds typical Barossa-like dense fruit with balanced but opulent mouth coating tannins.

Winter started with heavy rains, which tapered off resulting in below average rainfalls and a successful budburst in early spring. Flowering and set occurred in November, promoting uniform berry development and bunch numbers were on average for the season. Veraison for Shiraz and Cabernet started in late January with the older vines producing lighter crops. The height of summer saw 65mm of rainfall in the last week of February requiring swift viticultural practices to prevent the onset of disease and fungus. Our 2003 Barossa Shiraz displayed great colour and depth of flavour. Yields overall were below the long-term average but the grapes were of good quality and the resultant wines display terrific potential.

WINEMAKER: Matt Wenk

The grapes were crushed into and fermented in open top potters, with regular pump overs twice daily to extract colour and tannin. The grapes were then pressed and the wine was transferred to tank and then racked to barrel for oak maturation.

20 months in 30% new American oak hogsheads the balance in 1 and 2 year old oak.

CLOSURE | Cork
VOLUME | 750ml
VARIETAL | Shiraz
ALCOHOL (% vol.) | 14.5%
REGION | Barossa Valley
SUB-REGION | Greenock
ALTITUDE | 256m
AVERAGE RAINFALL | 450mm
SOIL | Deep grey-red loam containing coarse quartz and ironstone gravel over clay.