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Tempranillo is an innovative varietal for Brown Brothers that is now being released nationally for the third time due to its great success at Cellar Door. The wine has been developed in the Brown Brothers 'Kindergarten Winery' - a mini winery focused on trialling small batches of new varieties and different wine making techniques.
In the glass this wine is a bright crimson red with aromas of dark berries and integrated fruit and oak. These characters follow through to the palate which has savoury characters and very fine tannins. The 2009 Tempranillo is an elegant, medium bodied style of wine that can be enjoyed now or cellared in the short-term for further development.
Fruit for the Heathcote Shiraz was primarily sourced from the Colbinabbin Vineyard in the heart of the Heathcote wine region. The vines here grow on the deep Cambrian soils of the Mount Camel Range that have formed from the weathering of the 500 million year old bedrock. These rich soils are characterised by their deep red colour and proliferation of buckshot gravel and greenstone rock.
Luscious aromas of blackberry, liquorice and spice complement rich black fruit flavours and firm tannins which have been softened through ageing in French oak barriques adding subtle roasted spice flavours, complexity and balance. The concentrated texture extends throughout accentuating a long, distinctive finish.
Since 1997, Tyrrell’s historical association with the “Rufus Stone” has been utilised for its top non Hunter Valley red wines from its vineyards in Heathcote (Victoria) and McLaren Vale (South Australia). Situated just over 100kms north of Melbourne, Heathcote is undoubtedly Australia’s most exciting new red wine producing region. Its unique topography provides the most fertile climate and soil for shiraz vines to thrive, producing grapes which are commended for their ability to fully ripen, yet still retain excellent levels of natural acidity and fine grain tannins.
Heathcote is recognised as a producer of extraordinary Shiraz wines, even rivalling those of the Rhone Valley from where the grape cuttings were originally sourced, and is home to winemakers who have achieved international fame for their representations of Australian Shiraz. However, other red wines of quality also have emerged, as well as whites such as Chardonnay and Viognier. Heathcote wines are perceived as exclusive, not only because of their extremely high quality, but because of the difficulty in obtaining them.
Heathcote's climate and soils are strongly influenced by the Mt Camel Range, which runs from Corop in the north to Tooborac in the south, providing natural tunneling for the prevailing cool, south to south-east winds that blow throughout the growing period from October to March. The result is summer temperatures two to three degrees lower than the peaks for nearby Bendigo, and a cooler mean January temperature. Rainfall is surprisingly even during the year and, thanks to the hillside location of most vineyards, spring frost is seldom a problem.
While there is significant soil variation in the region, the slopes of the Mt Camel Range comprise a superb red soil with fine structure overlying uniformly textured red calcareous sodic clay soils. Confusingly for laymen, these soils are known as Cambrian Greenstones and, in their local manifestation, as the Heathcote Greenstone Belt.
Key wine varietals are:
Shiraz: Few would argue that Heathcote's conjunction of climate and soil produces world-class Shiraz with a unique character. It is deep, rich and velvety, with cascades of dark cherry plum and sweetly spicy fruit, and ripe but fine tannins giving texture and sustaining length. It is hardly necessary to add that such wines age superbly. Indeed, the end point is yet to be determined, given that most of the wineries date from the mid 1970s, and many of the Shiraz plantings are less than 20 years old.
Cabernet Sauvignon: Further proving that this is red wine country, the Cabernet Sauvignon style is rich and generous, with blackberry aromatics and flavours, without any hint of the herbaceous. Some of the central Victorian eucalypt-mint character can make its presence felt in some vintages. Merlot, the third most important variety, is very much a handmaiden to Cabernet Sauvignon, rather than a varietal in its own right.
Source: The official Wine Australia website.