dodgy Blog
From time to time you may find some ramblings from our winemaker here: on new release wines, seasonal updates, interesting experiences or a bee in his bonnet.
We can reflect
We can reflect
Now that the 2019 red and 2020 Fiano are in bottle, we can reflect a little bit on what they actually deliver and how they compare to previous wines and vintages. 2019 was generally speaking a pretty good year. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a great vintage, but it was pretty good. I’d say similar to maybe 2015 and 2013. The one hiccup in 2019 was a prolonged heat spell late January that affected some of the fruit in some of the region, depending on variety and maturity. Looking back I definitely saw this heat wave manifest itself in the quality of the Fiano grapes when they were harvested, and to some of the other Shiraz sites that we harvest a bit earlier. The cooler Shiraz sites and the Grenache were relatively unharmed by the heat, as they were still immature at that point and just shook it off. That’s good news for most of our wines, as (other than the Fiano which comes from only one source) all our wines are made of multiple vineyards, and the cooler Vale sites really shone in 2019. Our two Blewitt Springs Shiraz vineyards and Grenache from Clarendon and Blewitt as well all excelled in 2019. The 2020 Fiano was a breeze, with the grapes coming into the winery at the perfect ripeness and maturity. The only problem with 2020 was that there wasn’t any crop! Overall the 2020 vintage is excellent quality wise, but it’s terrible quantity wise. Our reds will be in short supply, but for now we have 120 cases of the 2020 Fiano ready to go and couldn’t be happier with the quality.
11/12/2020 at 3:20 PM
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2019 Red Wine and 2020 Fiano
2019 Red Wine and 2020 Fiano
2019 was generally speaking a pretty good year. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was a great vintage, but it was pretty good. I’d say similar to maybe 2015 and 2013. The one hiccup in 2019 was a prolonged heat spell late January that affected some of the fruit in some of the region, depending on variety and maturity. Looking back I definitely saw this heat wave manifest itself in the quality of the Fiano grapes when they were harvested, and to some of the other Shiraz sites that we harvest a bit earlier. The cooler Shiraz sites and the Grenache were relatively unharmed by the heat, as they were still immature at that point and just shook it off. That’s good news for most of our wines, as (other than the Fiano which comes from only one source) all our wines are made of multiple vineyards, and the cooler Vale sites really shone in 2019. Our two Blewitt Springs Shiraz vineyards and Grenache from Clarendon and Blewitt as well all excelled in 2019. The 2020 Fiano was a breeze, with the grapes coming into the winery at the perfect ripeness and maturity. The only problem with 2020 was that there wasn’t any crop! Overall the 2020 vintage is excellent quality wise, but it’s terrible quantity wise. Our reds will be in short supply, but for now we have 120 cases of the 2020 Fiano ready to go and couldn’t be happier with the quality.
13/11/2020 at 10:25 AM
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2019 Juxtaposed Old Vine Grenache
2019 Juxtaposed Old Vine Grenache
A blend of the Smart Vineyard in Clarendon and the Wait Vineyard in Blewitt Springs. The Wait vineyard will be 80 in a couple years and the Smart Vineyard will be 100 next year. I consider myself pretty lucky to get this fruit. It is in seriously short supply and considering the heavy hitters in McLaren Vale chasing fruit from these sites I’m not sure how I manage to pull this off every year. Not really much to say about the wine. Bottled it a little later than I normally do by about 3 months for no other reason as I was busy as hell trying to get my PhD over the line. It goes into large format old oak, don’t really do anything to it other that top the barrels over the year. Juist trying to make an honest expression of McLaren Vale Grenache. Still $29 RRP.
11/11/2020 at 3:53 PM
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