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Wine Description
The Story
The Abednego completes the Icon trio of super-premium reds from Grant Burge Wines, sitting alongside the highly awarded Meshach Shiraz and Shadrach Cabernet Sauvignon. Fruit for this wine is sourced from vines with more than 100 years of age. The old vines deliver fruit with incredible concentration and depth giving the resultant wine the ability to develop over many years. Due to the dry growing season in 2014, crop levels were very low. However, they produced extremely high-quality red wines with great colour and magnificent structure. The hand-picked fruit is a blend of 38% Shiraz, 35% Mourvèdre and 27% Grenache.
After crushing, the juice was fermented on skins for seven to eight days depending on the variety and unique qualities of each batch. Once fermentation was complete, selected parcels were either pressed into stainless steel for settling or left in their original fermenters for extended maceration for three to four weeks on skins. The wines were regularly tasted to determine when to finish maceration, and once the desired tannin and flavour structure was achieved it was gently pressed and transferred to oak. A combination of seasoned larger format Foudre vats (2500L) along with French oak puncheons (500L) are used for this wine with a total of 16 months' maturation prior to bottling. The larger oak format retains freshness of fruit yet delivers the benefits of ageing in oak with a softening of the tannins and maturation of the aromas and flavours.
Wine Information
{THE FRUIT}
The Abednego completes the Icon trio from Grant Burge Wines, sitting alongside the highly awarded Meshach and Shadrach which are Grant’s flagship Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is 100% Barossa using fruit sourced from Grant’s own vineyards with an average age of 110 years old. The vines deliver fruit of incredible concentration and depth, giving the resultant wine the ability to develop over many years. The fruit is all handpicked.
{THE WINEMAKING}
After crushing and de-stemming, the grapes were fermented in static “potter type” fermenters and regularly pumped over. Once fermentation was complete the wine underwent extended maceration on skins to enhance the tannin structure. Following this process the free run and pressings were held separately while the winemakers decided on the perfect blend. A portion of the wine was then transferred into a 2,500 litre vat, with the remainder spending 16 months in one and two year old French oak hogsheads.
Vintage 2009
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Near-optimum rainfall over winter, followed by dry, mild conditions over spring provided a good environment for budburst and an ideal start to the growing season with canopies developing well. Climatic conditions favoured flowering and set with mild and calm weather, however there was some shatter in Shiraz across parts of the state resulting in small crops for many regions. Some early to mid-December summer rainfall was followed by conditions drying up very quickly and continuing until the end of February. Summer was hot with some extreme heat but cool conditions returned in February and March, allowing the fruit to ripen across a long harvest with balanced acidities and excellent tannin ripeness. An elegant, yet still powerful follow up to the conditions brought about in the preceding 2008 vintage |