SAKURA SHIRAZ

Many friendships and alliances have been forged whilst sharing good food and wine. It is these lasting friendships that have been built on shared experiences that the Sakura Shiraz aims to embody. The bond between Japan and Cowra has been written into history and we hope that through the sharing of this quintessentially Australian wine, we continue to build on this mutual respect.

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Growing Season

Fruit for this wine is traditionally harvested from our 'Crest' vineyard where shallow soils lead to reduced vigour and yields. 2005 was the beginning of a prolonged drought in the region with below average rainfall. Hand pruning was followed up by shoot thinning to ensure uniform fruit ripening. We were extremely pleased with the results of our hard work in the vineyard,the investment in time and money was certainly evident at harvest time.

Winemaking

The fruit is harvested at night to ensure low fruit temperature is achieved when delivered to the winery. Gentle crushing is followed by transfer to the open fermenters where it is fermented. Fermentation took place over 9 days with hand plunging every 8 hours. The must was then transferred to the basket press and pressed off at 4.5 baume before being transferred to 1 and 2 year old American oak and new French oak and seeded for MLF. Following MLF the wines is racked stabilized and returned to barrel for maturation for 24 months. The wine was matured in bottle for up to 3 years prior to being released.

Tasting Notes

The Sakura Cowra Shiraz received special treatment in the winery, with traditional hand plunging, extended skin contact and 24 months maturation in American Oak. This has resulted in a complex wine with excellent balance and structure which exhibits earthy leathery notes. The mature fruit characters are well balanced with earthy characters and a long finish. Reeased when ready this wine will gain further complexity over 3 years  Total production 300 cases.

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