Hay Shed Hill|Margaret River|Premium Wines

Vintage

There were some worries early in the piece with terrible conditions across Margaret River through November, wet, cold and windy it did look like 2009 could be a shocker but the weather improved and conditions remained ideal for the rest of vintage. In the end the main effect of this poor weather during flowering and fruit set was diabolically low yields in Cabernet Sauvignon in particular and poor yields across all varieties in general. Of course we all tell ourselves that the low yields produce good quality fruit – which is in fact the truth – but just a little more fruit would have been nice to appease the accountants.

The growing season was as close to perfect as any farmer has the right to ask for, cool but sunny, no rain to speak of with nice soft breezes to take the edge of the midday sun. The whites are bright and shiny – with lovely cool vintage aromatics; the reds have amazing colour and will, I think, make terrific wines, even though the cost of growing the grapes may exceed the income from wine sales.

Winemaking

Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from the Hay Shed Hill vineyard were harvested at optimum ripeness from the outstanding 2009 vintage. The grapes were de-stemmed into open topped vessels for fermentation on skins with traditional pump over cap management. At the completion of fermentation the wine was left on skins for a further 10 days to maximize the development of the mature tannin. Maturation in French oak barrels for 13 months added further complexity and structure without dominating the fruit.

Colour

Dense dark red to black colour of great intensity.
 

Nose

An intense and rich bouquet led by the ripest cassis and berry fruits, rich and opulent but brooding in its youth. Behind the primary fruits are distinctive vineyard characteristics of dark chocolate and mint. The oak is background cedar which will recede further as the fruits emerge with some bottle age.

Palate

This vineyard consistently produces intense fleshy and full mid palate Cabernet with massive fruit weight with dark cherry and blackcurrant flavours. At the time of writing the wine is very youthful and tight but it still has ample fruit sweetness that will only become more accessible as the wine matures in bottle. This is a big full wine with ample flavour and concentration in the classic Margaret River tradition.

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