Heathcote Shiraz 2004
The 2003 won Four Gold Medals; at the 2006 Royal Melbourne Wine Show, the Korea International Wine Challenge, Top Gold at the 2006 Royal Hobert Show, and Top Gold at the Federation Square Heathcote Region Showcase.
Halliday's 2007 WIne Companion 5 Stars - 95 Points - "Glorious colour; big. rich, condensed fruit and ample tannins; floods the mouth with flavour.
Heathcote Wine Region, in Central Victoria, has a rapidly growing reputation as a great place to grow Shiraz. The region features a deep strip of rare, ancient, red Cambrian soil with excellent moisture retention characteristic virtually eliminating the need for irrigation. It is this red soil that gives Heathcote Shiraz its distinctive character.
The combination of low rainfall, hot summers and the red Cambrian soil creates a challenging environment in which the Shiraz vines thrive, albeit producing low yields and small berries with intense flavours.
The 2004 Heathcote Shiraz is made predominantly with grapes from our ‘Athols Paddock’ vineyard, along with small parcels from Ormond Hill and Colbinabbin Estate vineyards. We believe the 2004 vintage continues the high standards of preceding vintages which have collected three Trophies and fifty two Gold Medals.
2004 was the peak of the drought and yields were down in this cooler than usual vintage. The resulting wine is very elegant in structure; but with concentrated rich fruit character and abundant tannin. The wine was matured in brand new steam bent American oak for eighteen months.
Our Heathcote fruit is always picked on flavour, and in this aspectof the wine we are aiming for consistency. In 2004 appropriate flavour and ripeness levels were achieved at around 13% - 13.5% .
TASTING NOTES
The colour is a rich, dark purple/plum hue. The nose is simultaneously fragrant yet pungent; full of mulberry and plum aromas with an underlying trademark Heathcote white pepper character.
The palate exhibits intense berry and cigar box flavours, underpinned by an elegant structure which is due in no small part to the lower alcohol level derived from this cooler than usual vintage. The hallmark structure, tannin backbone and length we have come to expect from this wine is clearly evident in the 2004 vintage.Cellaring: Try not to uncork this wine for at least five years. In good conditions, a cellar life of 20 years should be achievable.
This is the fourth vintage to make use of new, ‘steam-bent’, medium toast, American oak barriques that engender a smoother, subtler oak character in the wine, and with less vanillan influences. The wine was matured in this oak for eighteen months.
Our Heathcote fruit is always picked on flavour, and in this aspect of the wine we are aiming for consistency. The new oak is subtler, smoother and more integrated, the fruit characters are more prominent.
It is a rich, elegant wine, beautifully balanced and with great cellaring potential. The colour is deep, intense purple/mulberry and the nose exhibits elegant, plum/berry aromas with a gentle oak presence and some mintiness.
On the palate it has a silky texture, complexity, delicious intense plum and berry flavours with an excellent balance between the fruit, oak and tannin.
CELLARING POTENTIAL
As far as cellaring is concerned, try not to uncork this wine for at least five years. Ten to fifteen years would be even better.
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