2015 Shiraz
"Shiraz is a powerful and elegant wine, bold and precise, truly varietal in its expression."
Cape Mentelle Shiraz draws inspiration from the most traditional techniques to highlight our ideal temperate, maritime climate in Margaret River for this classic Australian variety.
Nose
Intense nose aromas of dark cherry, sweet spice of cinnamon, cloves and liquorice. The wine has also a savoury character of black pepper and red meat to finish with notes of cigar box and roasted coffee beans.
Palate
The intense concentration of flavours reflects aromas of the nose. This hearty wine has powdery and elegant tannins supporting layers of flavours from dark fruits to savoury jus, finishing with cacao and cigar notes.
Blend
Shiraz 99.32%, Zinfandel 0.68%
Cellaring
This wine can be enjoyed now or, if you have some patience, let it rest for a few years. Potential ageing 10-15 years.
Food Pairing Notes
Opulence and precision make this wine the ideal match with a platter of jamon de bellota, blue cheese and fig paste. It will also partner perfectly a wild pig roast or smoked pork roast, with plum and wine jus.
The Vineyard
The fruits for this wine were sourced from Cape Mentelle’s vineyards in Margaret River, ranging in age from 15 to 40 years. The soils are predominantly deep sandy loams with high lateritic gravel content over clay. Shoot and leaf removal techniques were used to ensure good fruit exposure to light and to take advantage of the ocean breeze, which flows through the canopy. After a sunny and mild September 2014, Margaret River experienced a cool spring all the way to year’s end. 2015 brought the driest January on record, on par with 2008, and concluded with some hot days in the mid-thirties during the last week of January. The nights remained cool through summer, especially favoring delicate floral and red fruit flavours. The red harvest was challenging due to sporadic April rains, but patience was rewarded as the fruit dried beautifully to show expressive varietal characters.
Winemaking
The fruit is destemmed, berries sorted, cold soaked and traditionally fermented. Maturation in small barriques is aimed at retaining the refined fruit and floral characters of the variety along with the more savoury, spicy elements derived from our vineyards in Margaret River.
Analysis
14.1% alc., 6.02 g/l total acidity, 3.57 pH
