Vintage Notes
Vintage 2014 was a season of extremes for us all in McLaren Vale. We had great winter rains which gave us a full soil profile in time for a dry and windy spring. They don’t call it windy Willunga for nothing – I think if we’d had a set of wind chimes on the property, we would have heard them all day and night from September to January. We had a series of very hot days in January, followed by about 45mm of rain over a 48 hour period in early February which slowed ripening of our red grapes right down. We had picked all of our white grapes prior to the rain ‘event’ and so we had a decent break between whites and reds, like the good old days. There was no splitting of any of the grapes left on the vine after the rain, mercifully, either. Joch’s analysis of 2014 is that it was a gentleman’s vintage – everything came in slowly and in order, not like the mad rush of 2013. Every vintage is different; truism of our time, and of our industry.
Winemaking
The ‘Morning Bride’ is a dedicated Rosé - we picked some of our Denton’s Shiraz early, especially to make this wine. Grapes were de-stemmed and pressed with no skin contact at all. There was a cool, temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel tanks and once the grapes were through malolactic fermentation the wine was stabilised, filtered and then went straight to bottle.
Tasting Note
We wanted to make a lovely pale pink, dry crisp Rosé with a gentle nose, nice acidity and most of all, eminently drinkable. With a nose of strawberries and watermelon rind, the Morning Bride ticks off all of the criteria, we think. Serve chilled as an aperitif or drink with charcuterie and mild cheeses.
Technical Details
| Picking Date | 3rd March 2014 |
|---|---|
| Alc/Vol | 12.0% |
| Bottling Date | 5th May 2014 |
Awards
- Gold Medal and the Air Liquide Trophy for Best Rose or Sparkling Wine – 2014 McLaren Vale Wine Show
Reviews
- Josh Raynolds in Tanzer's International Wine Cellar Issue 175 July/ August 2014 Best New Wines from Australia
- Halliday 2016 Wine Companion