2021 Hanging Rock Heathcote Shiraz En Primeur

Please see the report below, written by our Chief Winemaker, Robert Ellis, regarding the 2021 Heathcote Shiraz made from grpaes from the Athol's Paddock vineyard.

2021 VINTAGE REPORT

For a dry grown vineyard like ours, 2021 was a grape growers dream! It was like we went straight from Spring to Autumn, no stinking hot days, no vine stress, no lack of water. Years like this are what winemakers dream of. It has been written up as one of the best vintages in decades.

There are times in history that stick in the minds of grape growers and winemakers. The 80’s for example will go down in memory with images of muddy boots and never being able to get anything dry, or for that matter ripen grapes. The 90’s as a general rule were pretty spectacular. The 00’s will live in infamy as the decade of extreme high heat and drought. The 10’s we’re very good over all. It would seem that the 20’s, at this stage at least will be seen as the decade of no summer.

This is all good for naturally hot, dry regions such as Heathcote. The cooler summers mean that it’s easier to keep the alcohols in check. The wines are better balanced, without any hints of dried fruit characters and due to the increased natural acidy will enjoy very long cellaring times.

ATHOL’S PADDOCK VINEYARD

The Athol’s Paddock Vineyard is an extraordinary plot of land we own on the foothills of the Mt Camel Range. It is one of few vineyards in Heathcote that can authentically claim to be grown on the ancient Cambrian soil. In order to truly lay claim to this soil, the vineyard must be within a 1.2km wide and 30km long stretch of the Mount Camel Range where the soil emerged from tectonic activity 500 million years ago (when the Earth itself was middle-aged). This historic soil therefore provides the perfect example of terroir where you can literally sense the wonderfully rich and potent tastes and aromas of the vineyard in the wine.

While 2021 really was the perfect vintage due to viticultural practices, decisions made by us, we still only got a small crop of 2.2T off our 20 acre vineyard. This low cropping is to ensure the vines vitality in the case of hot weather maintaining fresh fruit vibrancy. A run of warm weather in February brought the ripeness on beautifully, sugars came in nicely at 14.5be with amazing flavours of spice, raspberry and dark chocolate, probably the best this fruit has ever tasted.

WINEMAKING

Because of the near perfect grapes, I really wanted to them to be the star of this wine, so I kept the winemaking relatively simple.  

Hand-picked fruit was destemmed into open fermenters and new hogs head barrels with the heads taken off. This year we have used a mixture of French and American oak as we find in the great years the wine benifits from it. 

All fruit was left cold soaking for a week before warming for commencement of wild fermentation. Ferments were plunged and pumped over once a day for an additional 7 days before pressing, Particular care is taken with pressing, tasting the ferment daily to pinpoint the right moment to take the wine off skins, where the tannins and fruit character looked at their very best. The wine was then transferred back to new hogs head barrels for 22 months maturation. 

The final wine really is one for the ages, rivalling only such great vintages such as 2001, 2012 and 2018. Lively peppery characters are entwined with the fresh berry aromas and dark chocolate tannins. A truly seamless mouth-watering wine that leaves you wanting more, and will truly test those who have the patience to cellar it.