Shiraz is Australia's most important grape variety, and the offerings made from it around the country are diverse and vast.
We asked Chris Tyrrell from Tyrrell's Wines, Natalie Cleghorn from Mitchelton, and Alex Bratasiuk from Clarendon Hills to tell us how they make their shiraz stand out, and how they approach the winemaking process.
Chris Tyrrell – Tyrrell’s Wines, Hunter Valley NSW
H. What makes your shiraz unique?CT. Heathcote is its own area and it has heat, cold nights and low rainfall. The resulting wines have a unique white pepper character and finer tannins.
H. How do you approach the winemaking process?
CT. Winemaking for our Heathcote shiraz starts with a cold soak and agitation during the 800km trip to our winery in Pokolbin. The crop level is kept to 2–2.5 tonnes per acre for concentration and limited use of new oak to ensure the fruit and natural flavours are king.
The winemaking process has evolved by reducing the amount of new oak used. We're lucky enough to receive sufficient water to get even ripening and health in the vineyard, so the overall Tyrrell’s red style of fruit and acid shines through into our Heathcote wines. Our grape growing is continually being adjusted depending on the climatic conditions.
H. What makes shiraz such a popular wine?
CT. Shiraz is the most popular red variety because it delivers softness, length on the palate, plenty of flavour and it's easy to drink.
Natalie Cleghorn – Mitchelton, Nagambie Lakes VIC
H. What makes your shiraz unique?NC. Our best parcels within our Toolleen vineyard were selected and handpicked for the 2019 Print – these parcels came from the Spring Block. Our vineyard sits on the famous Cambrian Greenstones soil, this terroir produces wines that are powerful and supremely elegant.
H. How do you approach the winemaking process?
NC. When making shiraz I like to pick when there is still freshness to the fruit. I'm looking for bright berry flavours, more spice and elegance than bold, dark fruit. I use whole berries (not crushed), gentle extraction, wild ferment and wild malo, with maturation in large format oak, 500–2500 litre barrels, which allows the inherent spice and fruit to shine over overt oak flavour.
H. What makes shiraz such a popular wine?
NC. What I love about shiraz is how adaptable it is across different growing regions. I also love how it can present itself in many ways, from dark and brooding bold wines to spicy and elegant. I think that's what people love about shiraz – it has expressive fruit and is often less structured than other red varieties.
Alex Bratasiuk – Clarendon Hills, McLaren Vale SA
H. What makes your shiraz unique?AB. This is a unique, winemaker-designed vineyard that features single stake, non-cordon trellised vines. This equates to low yielding single stake bush vines that reflect the world class Clarendon terroir with fidelity and seamlessness. Our Astralis Syrah vineyard cuttings were used to propagate the site. Astralis vineyard is an 8 acres vineyard – this is 36 acres – and we expect it to become our biggest and best vineyard in another 20 years. Clarendon is the coolest part of McLaren Vale and yields one of the most distinctive terroir expressions within the greater region.
H. How do you approach the winemaking process?
AB. The winemaking process is geared towards highlighting the Clarendon terroir as the vineyard provenance stamps its individuality on the fruit before it arrives at the winery. Natural, low intervention methodology coupled with no fining or filtration permits the vineyard individuality to become the defining feature of the cuvée.
This was once a very young vineyard, planted in 2003, and over the years it has transformed from an entry point style with mild structure, colour and complexity to that of a world class cuvée with deep terroir complexity and recessed varietal intensity that rivals some of our best old vine, Grand Cru vineyards. Now at 20 years of age, the site produces some of the best raw flavoured fruit we receive at the winery. There is a significant future ahead for this site and wine.
H. What makes shiraz such a popular wine?
AB. Its versatility across the full gamut of the spectrum. Cool climate to warm, syrah performs exceedingly well the world round. Existentially, skillful hands can forge something special from young unproven vineyards, all the way up to the most rarified old vine sites located in magical terroir, which can produce something truly eye opening.
