Winemaker: Bruce Dukes
Viticulturalist: Richard Wilson
Vineyard: Margaret River, Warner Glen Estate (Old Block Shiraz)
Variety: Syrah (Shiraz)
Alcohol: 12.9 %
Cellaring: Drink now however short term cellaring will aid complexity
Oak: No
Colour: Rich strawberry.
Bouquet: Fragrances’ of freshly picked Spring flowers, mulberry blossom, crushed wild strawberries and vine-ripened raspberries compete with darker red fruits and dried wild flowers.
Palate: Well defined flavours of mulberry, strawberry and raspberry’s, offering great fruit sweetness. Juicy acidity carries these fruits of the forest with a crisp dry finish. Rose of Syrah has been produce with a definite European style in mind, have a fruit weight but a lengthy dry finish. Excellent with most foods of lighter or Asian style but will stand up on its own as a refreshing afternoon aperitif.
Winemaking: The Shiraz grapes were harvested at around 12 ˚Be in the cool of the night to preserve freshness and varietal perfumes. The grapes were lightly crushed, and then chilled to 5˚C before skin contact for 12 hours. The low temperature skin contact favours the extraction of colour and perfumes at a relatively greater rate than the extraction of other skin tannins, hence soft and flavoursome juices. After 12 hours, the vibrant pink juice was pressed off from the skins. The juice was then fermented at low temperatures to capture delicacy and
finesse, before early bottling to ensure the vibrancy of “spring”.
Vintage: The 2010 vintage season started well with conditions characterised by gentle rains and temperatures averaging 9 to16 C for the minimum and maximums. This allowed plenty of water penetration to the soil for the oncoming summer. The rest of the growing season from October to March was warmer and dryer than normal with a small spike in temperatures in mid January. These near perfect conditions for the vines corresponded to rapid ripening of the fruit.
Vineyard managers and winemakers had to be spot on with sampling the vines and predicting ripening patterns – we had to work harder than normal to harvest our vines at optimal ripeness because the window of opportunity was much tighter than most other seasons. Once again a superb vintage for the Southern Margaret River region.