Australia: a 2021 vintage under the signs of finesse and elegance

Finesse and elegance A generous, tardy 2021 vintage, marked by cooler temperatures and summer rains: a welcome change after long years of drought.

Winter provides the lull for restructuring pruning on our Heathcote vineyard. For one more season, we relieve the vine, weakened by the previous year’s fires, by limiting its buds and future yield. The growth of the vines began at the end of September, when the weather was particularly wet: more than 200mm of rain was recorded during the winter in this Pyrenean region of Australia, compared to 100mm the previous year. The benefit was the replenishing of water reserves after a hot, dry autumn, favouring the plant’s development.

This trend continues throughout the spring, where heavy rain falls at regular intervals, allowing the vines and grapes to develop at their own pace, delaying the ripening cycle. In all, there will be more than 1,200mm of rain over the season, a 20-year high. Special care was taken to protect the vines against cryptogrammic risks during the season. In the end, the vintage to developed slowly and the grapes show excellent balance between maturity, acidity and structure.

From the first tastings of the grapes, there is no doubt that the white wines will be fleshy, with a superb minerality and great freshness, while the reds will possess that essential and much sought-after balance between ripeness of fruit, tannins, acidity and alcohol. We had to wait until the end of March, more than two weeks later than in previous years, to harvest the Chardonnays, and until April 4 to pick our first Shiraz on block 4 of Shays Flat.


The Quality of the harvest is remarkable and well-balanced, proof that the care taken during the growing phase has paid off. After an eventless phase of fermentation, the wine gradually reveals itself as promising and fresh, restating the elegance of Australia’s Terroirs.

 

Wine-tasting comments

La Pléiade: with its dark red colour and purple tints, La Pléiade’s first reveal is a nose of black fruits. The palate is ample and fresh, exuding pleasantly velvety tannins.

Lady’s Lane: a highly complex wine. The nose is marked by notes of crushed strawberry and mint. On the palate, the omnipresent tannins give way to a fresh finish, with notes of wild fruits.

Saddleback: a powerful wine, exuding smoke and violet notes. On the palate, the onset is candid, then very saline, then replete with roundness and density. The finish reveals fruity (blackcurrant) and spicy notes.

L-Block: a wine of great elegance, whose aromatic freshness is supported by notes of gunflint, pepper, menthol / liquorice and raspberry. This is a tight wine featuring precise – but not overlyharsh – tannins. The fresh, mineral finish brings renewed form to the pepper and flint aromas.