2008 Radford Spice Bush Eden Valley Shiraz

Vinification

The grapes were picked into 350kg bins then crushed and de-stemmed,into 2 tonne open fermenters with some whole bunches.  The juice is then inoculated and allowed to ferment on skins. The wine is pumped over twice a day with 1 manual cap punchdown.  Fermentation generally does not exceed 28 degs C and the total ferment time lasts 8 – 10 days.  The wine is then basket pressed at 0 – 1 degrees baume to barrels of which 20% are new French oak hogsheads.  Malolactic fermentation took about 11 months, after which the second racking was carried out, and any necessary additions were added.  The wine was then tucked away in barrel for another 30 months before bottling.

Winemaker's Comments

Despite the drought in 2007 and a warmer than usual season in 2008, Eden Valley vineyards held up extremely well.  The ensuing heat wave that hit the Barossa in March, spared Eden Valley  Shiraz vineyards as they had yet to go through veraison and weren’t as susceptible to heat spikes.  The dry season, naturally restricted yields,  producing wines of great elegance, spiciness and deeply concentrated character – typically cooler climate Eden Valley Shiraz.