Heathcote Estate Single Vineyard Shiraz 2017

Trophy - Wine of Show - Sydney Royal Wine Show 2019
Trophy - Shiraz of Show - Sydney Royal Wine Show 2019
Trophy - Best Single Vineyard Wine - Sydney Royal Wine Show 2019

• Winemaker's Notes
• Reviews/Accolades

• The 2017 vintage in Heathcote was characterised by a long, cooler than average growing season, producing wines with great detail and structure. A relatively cold winter was followed by a cool and dry spring. The cool, dry and consistent conditions prevailed throughout summer, resulting in a later than average harvest date in early March 2017.
  
  The Heathcote Estate vineyard was planted in 1999 and is situated on Drummond's Lane, bordering the well-known Jasper Hill Emily’s Paddock Vineyard. The vineyard is planted on the slightly undulating, north-facing country on the ancient Cambrian soils which define the heart of the region. This is classic Heathcote terrain - rich red-brown top soil of variable depth, but on average 15 centimetres lying above a sub-soil of clay, small rocks, ‘greenstones’, quartz and rubble. This is scarcely fertile country, but it is ideal for vines as it has excellent water-holding capacity, without promoting too much vigour. The vast majority of the vineyard is planted to Shiraz (72 acres), with just one block of grenache. There are five clones of shiraz planted - BVRC12, BVRC30, ESA3021, PT23, SA1654, SA1127.
  
  Winemaking is essentially a pretty simple process and there is much talk these days about winemakers who ‘do nothing’. That doesn’t particularly make much sense to us, do nothing, get nothing. We like to describe it more like minimal intervention. A combination of intervening when required, but also backing off when we let nature run it’s course. It is an evolution and philosophy that we are continually refining and tweaking. This results in subtle modifications of our techniques, such as increased use of whole bunches in the ferments, maturation in large 6,500L oak vats and 500L French oak barrels and shorter barrel ageing times.
  
  Vintage: 2017
  Variety: Shiraz
  Region: Heathcote, VIC
  Alcohol: 14%

• Trophy - Wine of Show - Sydney Royal Wine Show 2019
  Trophy - Shiraz of Show - Sydney Royal Wine Show 2019
  Trophy - Best Single Vineyard Wine - Sydney Royal Wine Show 2019