To produce the Shiraz Clare Valley Mount Horrocks 20% of the hand-picked grapes were kept as whole bunches and crushed by foot. This portion is pressed, lees settled and run straight into French burgundy barrels for maturation for 18 months. The other 80% was crushed, destemmed and cold soaked on skins, before fermentation in purpose-built vessels to allow gentle plunging of the cap to extract maximum colour, flavour and tannins. The wine then spent 18 months in French oak barriques, of which 38% were new, and the remainder one to two years old. The final blend was assembled and bottled without fining.
The fruit for the Mount Horrocks Shiraz is from the low-yielding vines of the estate-owned Alexander vineyard. Strikingly beautiful and isolated, it is located at the extreme north-eastern corner of the Watervale subregion of the Clare Valley. The vineyard is managed using sustainable natural farming and organic practices. The vineyard is north-facing and sits at a cool 460 metre altitude. Vines cover 6.3 hectares of this 32 hectare property; the three sections of vineyard separated by rocky outcrops and ridges.
Mount Horrocks is owned by winemaker Stephanie Toole, who restricts production to approximately 2,500 cases per year in order to achieve her aims of quality and single-vineyard expression. The Clare Valley winery was established in 1980 and purchased by Stephanie in 1993, since then she has made significant improvements to the wines, vineyards and winery. In 2014, the winery and vineyards were organically certified by the ACO (Australian Certified Organic). Stephanie describes her wines as ‘hand-made food wines’ with an emphasis on structure as well as generous fruit flavours. All grapes are estate grown and hand picked from two organically managed vineyards: the ‘Cordon Cut’ vineyard at Auburn close to the cellar door, planted only to Riesling; and the ‘Alexander’ vineyard at Watervale for Riesling, Semillon, Nero d’Avola, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. She has a total of nearly 10 hectares of vines. Stephanie’s persistence with classic, no-compromise winemaking and a fully integrated organic approach to growing sets Mount Horrocks wines apart from the mainstream.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.