Nose
Howard Park Leston Shiraz has a dense purple red appearance with high clarity. On the nose it shows predominantly primary fruits with rich, ripe plum and blueberry notes. An attractive lifted violet perfume is the distinctive vineyard character that runs through each vintage of this wine.
Palate
On the palate the 2005 Leston Shiraz displays a very rich and plush profile with the soft fruit sweet mid palate showing red bonbon, Satsuma and underlying spice and vanillan oak. The wine is very youthful and juicy and with aging will develop more complexity.
Growing Conditions
The Howard Park Leston wines carry the Howard Park label and therefore are sourced from only the highest regarded vineyards and are given extraordinary attention in the vineyard. Canopy management is designed to maximize fruit exposure to the sunlight and yields are low to achieve concentration in the grapes. The grapes are harvested according to flavour with little regard for analytical data.
Winemaking
Fermentation occurs in static stainless steel tanks with highly aerative pumpovers that are integral in tannin development. At completion of fermentation the Shiraz is pressed off into French oak barriques of which about 60% are new, the balance being 1 year old. The wine was matured in barrel for approximately 18 months. There was minimal fining and filtration performed.
