Battle of Bosworth McLaren Vale
Battle of Bosworth was established in 2001 by Joch Bosworth and Louise Hemsley-Smith. The wines take their name from the original Battle of Bosworth, fought on Bosworth Field, Leicestershire, England in 1485. The roots of the Bosworth family’s battle were planted in the early 1850’s with their first vineyard in McLaren Vale. The modern day Battle of Bosworth saw the conversion of ‘Edgehill’ vineyard to organic viticulture by Joch Bosworth in 1995.
Joch and Louise have been growing their grapes organically for 21 years this year. Joch's vision saw him convert 24 acres of vines to organic viticulture in 1995. In 1999 they gained their
organic certification from ACO P/L (Australian Certified Organic). This process represented a big leap of faith in many regards, not least because in those days 'organic' was not the buzzword it is today. Their vineyards were the first in McLaren Vale to achieve organic certification, too, and they were the very first winery to release an organic wine. Hats off, Joch.
PINOT NOIR 2022
WINEMAKING
Our Pinot Noir vines are nearly 30 years old and I believe are the last 2 or maybe 3 blocks of this variety left in the district. In that way they are practically an historical anomaly – McLaren Vale grew masses of Pinot in the 1980’s mainly to supply wineries with sparkling wine base. We kept ours, although Ding’s Block Shiraz was once all Pinot. The young Joch Bosworth actually helped plant Braden’s Pinot way back in 1987 when he was drafted into labour by old man Peter. Ah, nothing like cheap labour back then.
In deference to our warm climate we pick the Pinot early and make it more like a Beaujolais than a Burgundy because we want to make a wine with soft tannins and gentle aromas on the strawberry end of the spectrum. To do this we put about 30% of the grapes through carbonic maceration. The grapes are hand-picked and allowed to ferment (without being crushed) in plastic bags in apple crates. We processed the balance of the grapes in a fairly standard red winemaking fashion; crushed, fermented, pressed off skins into (predominantly older) oak before blending back to the ‘cab mac’ component and bottling.
TASTING NOTES
There are beautiful ripe red fruits on the nose – think plums and strawberries along with a light, alluring spice. The Bosworth Pinot Noir is a middle weight wine with red fruit running through the palate and framed within lovely tannins. This wine goes very well with cheeses, chicken dishes and charcuterie.
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