Tasting notes from the winery for Bibliotheque Travel Writing Mudgee Shiraz 2016

Colour: Deep crimson with purple hues.
Nose: Lifted blood plum and blackberries, with dark pepper and brambly spice aromas.
Palate: Dark fruit is supported by moderate tannins and a gentle return of the white pepper, a medium finish with lingering blackberry and mulberry notes. Warm daytime temperatures ensure ripe and plush fruit flavours while cooler evening temperatures help to preserve a mild acidity which provides balance.
Food: BBQ, roasted vegetables, hard cheeses.

The Winery

The vineyards operate under NASAA organic certification and are planted to Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  These varieties are the most widely planted in this area. It is a gently sloping and open sunny site, on a narrow valley plain between low rolling hills. 

 
The area is 600m above sea level on the western slopes of Australia’s Great Dividing Range. James Halliday notes that Mudgee has a very different climate from the Hunter Valley. It experiences spring frosts and cold nights which delay budburst, and rainfall and humidity are lower. With greater sunshine hours irrigation is essential on almost all vineyards. The summer and autumn days are very warm and although it isn’t a cool region, harvest is four weeks behind the Hunter Valley.  It primarily the lower humidity that permits the use of organic farming practices.
 
This vineyard is just north of the cosy town of Mudgee – itself 100km north of Orange, its more famous cousin in the Central Ranges. Historically larger wineries were established here in the 1970s-80s and the region itself had been speculatively planted from the late 1800s, experiencing a renaissance from the 1960s onwards.  Stylistically, the shirazes from this region are quite rich, ripe and full, with an abundance of blackberry and plum fruit.
 
The 2016 wine is a drier style, with dark fruit on the palate and black plum aromas. In 2016 the winery was organic in conversion, from 2017 onwards the wines are certified organic. 
 
James Halliday Five Red Star Winery 2012-2019
Oldest vines – 25 yrs
Vineyard – NASAA-certified organic practices both in vineyard & winemaking
Elevation – 600m
Planted area – 80 ha
Soil – fertile red clay loam over quartz
Harvest – March / April

TECHNICAL DETAILS:
Alcohol: 14.8%

Residual sugar: 2.0 g/L

pH: 3.65

Acidity: 5.7g/L

Low Sulfur Levels: Free Sulfur Dioxide - 19mg/L & Total Sulfur Dioxide - 68 mg/L

Certified Organic

 

(SKU: BI_Shi_16)