The Shiraz vines were planted by my Grandfather, Rufus Armein Heidenreich in 1942, in Vine Vale, Barossa Valley. This area of vineyard is located along the Eastern edge of the Barossa Valley, which was one of the first areas settled in the 1840’s due to its fertile, deep sandy, loam soils and water-holding capacity, in non-irrigated vineyards. The gully breeze that is prevalent in this area helps keep grapes cool during the hot ripening season, and retains natural acidity and freshness.
2020
Liz Heidenreich 2020 “Rufus Block” Barossa Valley Shiraz
This Barossa Valley Shiraz is medium to full bodied. It has rich fruit cake spice, but without overpowering jamminess. It has bright blue and red fruits with a freshness from the natural acidity. It has long fine, silky tannins and mocha, cigar box flavours on the finish.
| ALCOHOL | 14.2% |
|---|---|
| BOTTLED | June 2022 |
| ACIDITY | 7.3 g/L |
| P/H | 3.41 |
| RESIDUAL SUGAR | 0.46 g/L |
The
Vines
The
Vintage
The 2019 calendar year was the driest on record for the Barossa Valley, resulting in very low yields for the 2020 vintage wines, approximately 50% lower than average.
The age of these vines and the dry grown nature means that they are used to little water, and have very deep roots to tap into deep ground water. It took time for the flavours to develop, and harvest was slightly later than normal.
The yields were still lower than average but the quality high, with intensely flavoured berries and great balance throughout the vineyard.
The
Winemaking
The Shiraz was harvested in early April, handpicked in the coolest part of the morning. The fruit was destemmed and transferred into a 2 tonne open top fermenter. The must was inoculated and fermented on skins for 14 days. It was plunged 2 times a day for tannin and colour extraction, without over working the cap to avoid bitter seed tannins.
After alcoholic fermentation, the must was pressed off to French oak Hogshead for malolactic fermentation. The wine was matured in 25% new French oak, with the remainder 2nd and 3rd use oak, for 20 months before being bottled.
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