2009 Black Dog Shiraz

Black Dog - 2009 Black Dog Shiraz

Blend:
100% Shiraz

Region:
Willow Bridge Estate, Geographe, WA

Bottled:
February 2011

Release Date:
September 2011

Technical Data:

Alcohol 13.5%vol
Total Acidity 6.1gm/lt
pH 3.49

Winemaker:
Simon Burnell and Jane Dunkley

Winemakers Notes:

~ Style ~

Rich, velvety, sophisticated and a little hedonistic as usual, but without being over the top in any way (ripeness/alcohol/oak/extract etc). The style is more a well behaved black labrador than savage rottweiler.

~ Background ~

This Black Dog is a classically Australian styled Shiraz whose name hails from our second ever vintage in 2001 when cellarhands noted that the wine from our most spectacular hilltop block of estate shiraz was “as black as dog's guts”. The nickname caught on amongst family and friends, so today, provided vintage conditions deliver us a shiraz of suitable depth and concentration to do the name justice, a new Black Dog is born. This release was fermented in small open topped stainless-fermenters, hand-plunged and drained off skins after seven days to finish fermentation in a combination of French and American oak barriques, 50% of which were new. Post ferment, the wine matured in these barrels for 14 months before being racked to tank, clarified and then bottled in December 2010.

~ Facts and Figures ~

The season: After another wet and windy winter, spring sprung convincingly with September and October significantly warmer than average and getting the vines off to a racing start and letting us think we were in for a hot summer. Everything returned to 'normal' for these parts from November onwards with warm, sunny and dry conditions all the way through to the end of harvest. Perfect again - the third vintage in a row.

Vineyards: Our 1.4 Hectare 'Black Dog' Shiraz block is both the highest and the most level vineyard on our Ferguson Valley estate. It was planted to a very sparse 1250 vines per hectare in 1997 on the most even of the classic freedraining WA "Marri soil" (a deep layer of ironstone gravely loam over reddish friable clay) of the Estate. Vines are spur pruned and vertically trellised and yields restricted to four tonnes per hectare or less.

~ Tasting Notes ~

Appearance: Dark plum red with some very bright purple tints.

Nose: Fresh, juicy plums, mocha, a bag of sweet spices (vanilla pod, nutmeg and cinnamon) and a floral lift over the top of all that.

Palate: Mid weight, soft and plush upfront, but even, long and with a real concentration of flavour and density of tannins.

Cellaring:Yes please. At least a year or two to be reaching maturity and should cellar well to 2020, perhaps beyond.