Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard
The Hickinbotham Clarendon Vineyard covers a steep cut of country from the ridgetops above the village of Clarendon to the Onkaparinga River in the gorge below. Since its establishment in 1971, the Hickinbotham vineyard has become a part of Australia’s wine heritage, supplying fruit to produce many of Australia’s greatest wines. Breathing new life into this historic vineyard, Winemakers Charlie Seppelt and Chris Carpenter have commenced a new era of Hickinbotham’s prestigious legacy; building upon and honoring the vineyard’s acclaimed record.
Intensely graceful and youthfully elegant, Brooks Road is a new resurgence of Australian Shiraz that captures the most acute aspects of the fruit. The sharp summery breeze of the high country offsets the dark, brooding berries and the bright earthiness of the red beet clusters. It’s all there in the glass to be had - scents of dark currants and red berries mingle with freshly excavated roots and culminate in the taste of dry dusty air on the pasture that lingeringly departs with the faintest memory of cedary oak. It’s a lively thing that beckons you to return.
Winemaker's Comments
This is the most finely-structured and elegant of our three vintages of Hickinbotham Vineyard Shiraz. It's another step in our determined effort to get the best from this distinguished upland site. Each of our three Shiraz vintages is a little further from the traditional high-alcohol, full-bodied McLaren Vale Shiraz from the lower, warmer country in the south of the region.
Grapes/Blend 100% Shiraz
pH 3.72
Acid (g/L) 6.30
Vinification
After the hand-picked Shiraz clusters were delivered from high country (210-230 metres) by Viticulturer Michael Lane, Winemaker Charlie Seppelt destemmed and sorted the berries into open fermenters. The cold soak was four days, the skins plunged three times daily, and the minimum time on skins was eighteen days. The wine was then basket pressed; its free run and pressings kept separate.
Maturation
To minimise filtration at bottling, four rack-and-returns were conducted over fifteen months as the wine seasoned in a mixture of Burgundy-coopered barrels.
Palate
This Shiraz shows the characters this vineyard has displayed since the start, but perhaps in a more elegant, harmonious and balanced form. Its consistency is comforting and reassuring, buttressed by blue and black fruit notes throughout.
Cellaring Potential
It is readily enjoyable but has all the structure, acid and tannin to offer decades of rewards from cellaring.
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