We had good winter rains after a few seasons of below average rainfall. This was a late season: budburst was approximately 2-3 weeks late, and harvest started similarly behind our standard season (we usually start picking Chardonnay in early/ mid February). This year we picked whites in late February/ early March. Unseasonal rains in March threw a spanner in the works somewhat, but luck and good management helped us dodge most of the bullets. Whites are terrific, as is the Cabernet Sauvignon and our best parcels of Shiraz are incredibly bright, balanced and reminiscent of our 1999 reds, which have incredible longevity. Potentially 2011 is a standout Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot year (we were still picking PV in late April). Overall this was a very long vintage with moderate yields which tested Joch’s nerves a little more than usual.

We made the Puritan in a standard red winemaking fashion. We picked the grapes when they were flavour ripe – at least we got them in before the heavens opened. Then we crushed them, fermented them in a mixture of open and static fermenters, settled the wine and once through ‘malo’ (malolactic fermentation), we bottled it. Then we departed from standard red winemaking procedure. Generally a McLaren Vale Shiraz would spend a period of time in oak barrels of one sort or another. We wanted to make a fresh, vibrant Spanish ‘Joven’ (youthful) style of Shiraz ready for opening and enjoying immediately, and so we bottled the wine without any time in oak, and with no added preservatives

• Gold Medal, Highest Pointed Shiraz and Best Preservative Free Wine – Organic Wine Show Australia New Zealand 2011

  'v raw and essencey, bold fruit - garrigue and game - blackberry crumble'

  From the judges

• The Weekly Review - Ben Thomas

  This stood out in a very good line-up of certified organic wines at the Bosworth cellar door late last year. It sees no oak or preservatives. Vibrant, fresh aromas feature squashed cherries, summer berries, spice, violets, fennel and a nice bit of meaty goodness. It’s packed with fruit flavour – cherries, chocolate, violets and a touch of minerality, while on the palate you’ll find good tannin and structure with bright, youthful acid. There’s a delicious finish of cherries and summer berries – this didn’t last long.

  Food match  Grilled quail
  25th January 2012 
  4/5 

• Max Allen from www.realaustralianwines.blogspot.com

  This is my pick of the best wines from the 2011 Australia/New Zealand Organic Wine Show, which was judged by myself and four others in Sydney on Monday September 26.

  BEST PRESERVATIVE FREE WINE at the Organic Wine Show Australia/ New Zealand 2011

  This preservative-free red fair bursts out of the glass: heaps of joyful black fruit, but layers, too, of more complex flavour - garrigue (wild thyme, dried oregano) and game (rare seared venison, I think).

  Max Allen from his www.realaustralianwines.blogspot.com website

   

• Wine 100 Australia's Wine Business Magazine Mike Bennie May 2012

   

  I just can't help wanting to drink a heap of this, it's a loose knit expression of Shiraz with great energy and vitality. Faintly nutty, soft tannins and a lick of spice, but a simplicity that is disarming and charming.

  92 points 

• Gourmet Traveller WINE Magazine Dec/ Jan 2012 Best Buy Wines $20.00 and under, Max Allen

  Battle of Bosworth produced their first preservative-free shiraz in 2010, and were so encouraged by both the experience of making it (the wine retained amazing fruit freshness, despite having no protection from SO2) and the positive response from their customers, that they repeated the exercise in the cooler, wetter 2011 vintage. It's a very bold, juicy, essencey young red - pure purple fruit - but there's lovely complexity here, too: some wild herbs and a bit of game. 

• Red All Over by Tony Love in the Adelaide Advertiser 21st December 2011

  A nice review of the Puritan in the final moments of 2011: ' ‘Light as a feather, no added sulphur dioxide preservative, organically grown in McLaren Vale. Here’s a style with bright, juicy berry fruits and frankly-that’s as straight up as you need in the middle of summer with a thirst for a red that won’t bowl you over.’ 

• James Suckling on www.jamessuckling.com November 2011

  A wine with plum jam and spices on the nose and palate, with full body, soft tannins and bright acidity. An edgy and fruity style. Drink now. Cool organic juice, with modest levels of SO2. Screwcap. 90 points

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