The Shiraz for this wine is from three seperate Estate Vineyards in the Adelaide Hills and parcels are selected for their juicier fruit expression, gentler tannin profile and approachability when young.

WINEMAKING: The Shiraz was mostly destemmed and fermented in small batches with only gentle extraction by hand and feet plunging.  2 to 3 weeks of skin contact before pressing straight to barrels of 228l and 500l. Aged for 18 months in new and old French barrels. Wild fermentation, no enzymes, spontaneous malolactic fermentation, gentle extraction, warmer fermentation, minimal temperature control. No fining. Estate bottled. Small amounts of sulphites added before bottling.

VINTAGE: 2014 was a year of dramatic, record-book extremes right across Australia. In South Australia and up into the Adelaide Hills we saw the second highest annual mean temperatures on record. From October rainfalls were significantly lower than average and by December the mercury was rising, resulting for an early bud set in the vineyards. January brought intense heat waves across the state, with five days in Adelaide registering above 42ºC. Hot days and warmer than average nights brought about an early veraison, though as ever, cooling breezes from Lake Alexandrina did what they could to minimise our evening temperatures, in particular, sparing us the worst of the extremes. As February arrived, the whole equation was to change. Intense storms at the beginning and middle of the month brought gale force winds and intense rainfalls, with over 100mm of rain falling between the 13th and 14th and bringing the hot, dry conditions  to a thundering halt. While the cooler temperatures and wetter soils slowed ripening across many of the later varieties, the earlier ripeners were already well on their way to harvest. The outcome of the wild conditions was an uncommonly long vintage with each varietal requiring careful consideration to ensure optimal flavour at harvest.

(SKU: HS_BDS_14)