Nose
The nose with fruit notes of dark flesh plums and dried blueberries. In time, red liquorice, honey, star anise and mocha infuse the bouquet. The palate is compact, intense and long in warm red fruits with elements of brushed earth, sweet oak, minerals and savoury spice.
Growing Conditions
growing season in the south west of Western Australia was favourable to the making of great wine. After a winter of sufficient rain, the spring to autumn period was warm to hot, dry and characterised by less than average summer precipitation or humidity. An added bonus to the benign harvest conditions was the explosion of native blossom which sated the otherwise grape-loving, resident bird populations. The Great Southern region was warm to hot throughout the 2012 vintage. Hot spells in March magnified the effect of little spring or summer rain. With soil moisture very low, the cooler vineyard sites did receive some reprieve off the southern ocean. This relief was however limited as the seasonal onshore streams that deliver coastal drizzle and cooler conditions across the region, appeared weaker than normal. These warmer conditions did accelerate ripeness and allowed red varieties to mature early as ripe flavours, tannins and intense colour were evident at lower baume. The wines produced from the 2012 vintage are full of intense fruit flavours and ripe tannins. 2012 will be regarded as an excellent vintage with Shiraz, Riesling and Chardonnay.
Winemaking
Vinification occurs in small 4 t open stainless steel fermenters with diligent cap management to extract fine fruit tannin and strong varietal flavour. Select parcels of grapes are run to barrel at 2 to 3º Be to capture new barrel characters from the final few degrees of fermentation .The remaining blocks are pressed at dryness to retain fruit vibrancy. Barrel maturation occurs in 40 % new and 60% older barriques of which 95% are French oak and 5 % American oak. 18 months in oak, is ample time to achieve the thorough integration of oak and grape tannins. All batches selected for the Scotsdale Shiraz are matured separately in order to build a wine history over time. The wine was blended in September 2013 from a selection of the best Shiraz blocks. After egg white fining and light filtration, the wine was bottled.
