Winemaking

The fruit was harvested in Mid-April when the skin tannins are ripe and the flavours are bold. The fruit is de-stemmed with no crushing of the berries so that we begin "whole berry" fermentation. The whole berries seem to add some spice and complexity to the wine. Our Shiraz seems to enjoy relatively cool ferments, plenty of aeration and gentle treatment. The wine is gently pressed of skins, near dryness, based on taste. The bubbly purple wine finishes its fermentation in the presence of mainly French oak, with the smallest portion of American oak. The wine is racked when it has finished its malolactic fermentation, and then once or twice more over the season based on its individual requirements. This wine was matured and aged for 17 months before bottling during the Winter of the following year.