2015 Heartland Single Vineyard Shiraz

This is one of the only two single vineyard wines ever produced by Heartland. This vineyard has offered us our best Shiraz consistently for over a decade. As such, we decided that in a great vintage we can have a little fun with it. We can’t tell you whose vines they are, but we must admit they are not ours. Good winter rainfall offered cover crops for a moisture-retaining mulch throughout the dry spring and summer. The lack of rainfall over the growing period led to lower yields. Summer saw mostly cool temperatures and an early vintage with most of the region’s fruit off by early April. The Langhorne Creek wine region benefits from cooling afternoon breezes from Lake Alexandrina and this season was no exception. The welcome breezes helped keep overnight temperatures down, enabling fruit to maintain natural acidity. 

The grapes are selected from a single Shiraz vineyard. The strictest pruning techniques are used. The fruit was crushed to small open top stainless-steel fermenters. After 24 hours of skin contact fermentation was commenced with our Rhône isolate yeast. Following 10 days of cool fermentation on skins and pumped over 3 times daily, the wine was transferred to new French oak hogsheads for14 months maturation. A barrel selection was then made to determine the finest for inclusion. – Ben Glaetzer