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 reds have amazing colour and will, make terrific wines, even though the cost of growing the grapes may exceed the income from wine sales.

Winemaking

This traditional blend of the two classic grape varieties is designed to produce a wine with a complete palate profile. Cabernet Sauvignon is the structurally strongest variety with good flavour in the early and late part of the taste spectrum backed up by fine tannin. Merlot has less flavour persistence than Cabernet Sauvignon but has wonderful mid palate fleshiness giving a sweet fruit centre to the wine. The grapes were sourced from Margaret River; the premier grape producing region of Western Australia. Fermentation in open topped vessels with traditional pump over cap management produced a wine with loads of fruit flavours and background tannin providing structure without astringency. Maturation in French oak barriques for 10 months adds further complexity and structure without dominating the fruit. 

Colour

Vibrant youthful red hues of good depth.

Nose

Ripe berry fruits with chocolate mint characters typical of Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon.

Palate

Good concentration of ripe sweet berry fruits with impressive mid palate fleshiness. Soft round palate profile with ripe tannin at finish.
 
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