Le Sorelle Shiraz 2020

Le Sorelle is made by siblings Kim and Tennille Chalmers; the name itself means ‘the sisters’ in Italian. The Chalmers girls grew up surrounded by vines and after pursuing their own independent careers for ten years - Kim in music and Tennille in hospitality - they have both succumbed to the inherent passion for viticulture and vino and joined the family business of growing grapes and making wine.

Le Sorelle is a single vineyard Heathcote shiraz from the Chalmers vineyard on the northern end of the Mt Camel range. The vines for the Le Sorelle Shiraz were propagated from a special vine selection out of the Chalmers family's original nursery block and planted at the Colbinabbin site in 2009. Le Sorelle shiraz is grown in the famous red Cambrian earth of the region, tended with care, hand-picked and made in small quantities each vintage at the Chalmers Winery in Merbein.

The concept of making shiraz is an alternative direction for the Chalmers girls whose family already produces two other ranges of based entirely on Italian grape varieties. Their philosophy has always focused on growing the right variety to suit the environment, so when it came to Heathcote, it made sense to produce shiraz. Le Sorelle is a wine which speaks of the terroir but is also inspired by the elegant, savoury and finely structured red wine styles Kim and Tennille love to drink.

It could be said that Shiraz is the great ‘Aussie’ grape. While there are no wine grapes indigenous to Australia, Shiraz has certainly been adopted by our country as its own. Shiraz is grown in every single wine region across our continent and is made into many and varied styles. Syrah, as it is called in French, is famously cultivated in the northern Rhone valley where it is a key player in the regions of Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Cote Rotie & St Joseph, but it’s also utilised in blends including Chateauneuf-du-Pape to add structure and power. In recent decades Australia gained world acclaim for its full-bodied and inky examples of Shiraz from warmer growing regions such as the Barossa Valley but some of the greatest renditions of the wine are now coming from cooler climates like the Grampians, Beechworth and the Adelaide Hills.

Shiraz is a classic companion of the famous red Cambrian soils of Northern Heathcote where it picks up graphite and charry notes as well as a meaty savoury note from the mineral rich clay-loam. Shiraz is usually harvested earlier than most other reds on the vineyard. High density planted, east-west oriented rows trained with vertical shoot positioning allows for perfectly even exposure of the grapes during the ripening period. Hand-picked fruit is 100% destemmed and fermentation is in open fermenters without yeast addition. Fermentation typically goes for 20 days. The wine is then pressed and matured in 90% old and 10% new French barriques. Malolactic fermentation is natural. The wine is then bottled without fining and with little or no filtration after about 12 months. No animal products are used in the production of this wine which is 100% vegan friendly.

Le Sorelle Shiraz is bright blue/ruby coloured in the glass with aromas of graphite, morello cherry and cassia. This elegantly structured wine is medium-weight with fruits-of-the-forest, savoury spice and dried herb notes. It’s refreshing acidity and supple fruit characters are balanced by well-integrated tannin from both the grape and the oak.

Because of this wine’s medium-weight yet full flavour it can be paired with a broad range of dishes from lighter autumn and game flavours like mushroom risotto through to richer winter dishes like braised beef cheeks.