2017 Indigo 'Secret Village' Shiraz 750ml

Indigo Vineyard 2017 Secret Village Shiraz

Production 1,70 bottles

The Vintage: The growing season started with higher than average winter and early spring rainfall. Winter was long and cold delaying budburst which foretold of a later harvest. The cold early spring led to a later veraison which was followed by a warm January. Picking was a leisurely affair after the very compressed 2016. Our first fruit was harvested on the 18th of February (16 days later than 2016), our Shiraz was picked on 13 March. Fruit quality was excellent across the entire vineyard with little disease pressure.

Winemaking: The Shiraz was pressed with a combination of whole bunch and whole berries. It was vinified in small open fermenters with pump overs and hand plunging twice a day. The wine was pressed when dry and finished fermentation in barrels after undergoing malolactic fermentation in wood. The Shiraz matured in French oak puncheons and barriques (30% new oak) and was racked twice during 16 months in oak.

Our thoughts: In the glass the first thing you see is the deep, dense garnet colour. You can almost sense the complexity before you taste the wine. While it is a typically Beechworth medium bodied shiraz it has a wonderful depth while maintaining its soft characters. The subtle tannins enhance the mouthfeel and allow a rich mid palate with spicy liquorice, blood plum and raspberry flavours. This shiraz demonstrates our philosophy of releasing our wines in their best drinking window. We have matured the wine in bottle for 4 years to develop complexity and delicious balanced aged characters so you don’t need to cellar it to see it at its best.

Food: As we taste this at the start of winter, a roast leg of Indigo lamb served with a mushroom ragu has our mouths watering.