Heathcote Estate Shiraz
Region: Heathcote, VIC
Viticulture: Sustainable
Winemaker: Tom Carson
Established Date: 1999
Our five individual blocks and their various sections were handled separately in the winery and vintage 2018 created 14 unique batches of wine. The grapes were fermented in a combination of traditional open and closed fermenters after gentle destemming, with some batches receiving whole bunches. The wines were then pressed and transferred into French Oak barrels for malolactic fermentation – majority 300L hogsheads, some 500L puncheons and some parcels aged in traditional 6250L cuvees. Racked twice during maturation, bottled February 2019.
Sommelier’s Recommendation
One of my favourite Australian Shiraz! Beautiful nose of red and black fruits, liquorice and tar that jump out of the glass before it even hits your lips. Its packed with rich savoury tannins, touch of oak and vanilla. Enjoyable now but definitely a long future ahead.
Heathcote, in central Victoria, is well-renowned for its rich soils and characteristic, intense, balanced red wines. Both the climate and soils of this region are strongly influenced by the Mt Camel Range which runs from Corop in the north to Tooborac in the south, providing natural tunnelling for the prevailing cool, south to south-east winds that blow throughout the growing period from October to March.
The Heathcote Estate vineyard is situated on Drummond’s Lane, bordering the well-known Jasper Hill Emily’s Paddock Vineyard. The site is managed and cared for by vineyard manager Paul Viggers, and he and the team have meticulously nurtured each vine in each row – hand pruning the vines through winter and handpicking each bunch of fruit each harvest.
In 1999, a rare and special parcel of land on the ancient Cambrian soils of Heathcote was found and planted with shiraz vines. These 500-million-year-old soils are highly sought-after and only found in selected sites. The vineyard is planted on the slightly undulating, north-facing country which is the heartland of the region. The land is classic Heathcote terrain – rich red brown topsoil of variable depth, but on average 15 centimetres lying above a sub-soil of clay, small rocks, quartz and rubble. This is scarcely fertile country, but it is ideal for vines as it has excellent water-holding capacity, without promoting too much vigour.
The Heathcote Estate vineyard is situated on Drummond’s Lane, bordering the well-known Jasper Hill Emily’s Paddock Vineyard. The site is managed and cared for by vineyard manager Paul Viggers, and he and the team have meticulously nurtured each vine in each row – hand pruning the vines through winter and handpicking each bunch of fruit each harvest.
In 1999, a rare and special parcel of land on the ancient Cambrian soils of Heathcote was found and planted with shiraz vines. These 500-million-year-old soils are highly sought-after and only found in selected sites. The vineyard is planted on the slightly undulating, north-facing country which is the heartland of the region. The land is classic Heathcote terrain – rich red brown topsoil of variable depth, but on average 15 centimetres lying above a sub-soil of clay, small rocks, quartz and rubble. This is scarcely fertile country, but it is ideal for vines as it has excellent water-holding capacity, without promoting too much vigour.
