Under Wraps

Strathbogie Ranges Shiraz 2018

2018 was an outstanding year. Conditions were near perfect throughout the whole growing season. The year was warm without being too hot. We hear a lot about record hot years these days however these statistics do not reflect many important conditions for viticulture. We did not experience any events we would refer to as heat waves in 2018 and this is critical during the ripening period. The vines were able to ripen the fruit to the degree we desired without any stress. This means all aspect of fruit composition was good. Acid is naturally maintained and other critical components of the grape for sound fermentation were plentiful. This wine is a blend of block 7 short rows and Block 13.1. Block 7 typically produce the most instensly coloured and flavoured wines of all of the Shiraz blocks, it is also the most elevated of all Shiraz blocks and is typically the lowest yeild block. The Rule has often come from block 7 on Upton Run, in this wine this is the case for 70% of the blend. The other 30% comes from some relatively young vines in our new plantings on rootstock. The vines on block 13.1 were planted in 2013 and were carefully selected as an ideal match of scion and root for the site. The "Tahbilk" clone as it is known is one of the oldest Shiraz clones in the World, with much of the Shiraz of the Rhone valley being replanted from this source in the late 1800's. This clone produces open bunches with fairly low yields. The perfect type of bunch for big full bodied wines like the Rule. The blend of these two in this wine has made a wine of great richness, vibrancy and complexity. The use of our new selective harvester for the first year delivered fruit in perfect condition to the winery. Colour was literally running from the berries in 2018 so we decided not to crush the fruit but rather transport mostly whole berries to our fermentors for fermentation. We knew that tannins would also be plentiful in this great year so cap management was also gentle.