Smidge Wines

Tasting Notes

Aromas of fresh raisons, ripe raspberries, tar, cloves and subtle white pepper with a spirity lift. The palate shows jubey red fruits, confection of berries, cream and rhubarb with cherry chocolate notes. It shows sweet fruit with subtle black currents. Modertate length and tannins.

Cellaring

Smidge recommends drinking this wine within the next 5 to 6 years.

Viticulture

Grown on sandy loams over limestone adjacent to a flood plain of the Bremer River in Langhorne creek, the vines are allowed to sprawl, but require careful irrigation management. After extensive crop thinning, the vines became balanced and even. The growing season was fine and mild with a major heat spike in mid February resulting in rhe fruit ripening earlier than usual free of disease.

Vinification & Maturation

With approximately 20% berry dimpling (ie slight shrivelling), the fruit was hand picked disease free cleanly and easily. Once at the winery the fruit was de-stemmed and evenly distributed to two fermenters and inoculated with different commercial yeast strains to gain more complexity in the finished wine. The musts of both fermenters were chilled and cold macerated for 2 days and then warmed up to allow fermentation to proceed. Fermentation was even and lasted roughly 7 days in each fermenter with a maximum temperature of 28oC. Average total time on skins was 14 days. Both fermenters were pressed separately, with the free run and pressings blended to tank. After 24 hours both tanks of wine were racked to 2-4 year old French barriques for 14 months., during which malolactic fermentation occurred and the wines were racked twice. Prior to bottling the barrels of both batches were blended and fined, but not filtered. The wine was

Technical Analysis

Harvested - April 2004
Bottled - July 2005
Alcohol - 15.9%