‘Puritan’ Shiraz {no added preservative} 2012
Tasting Notes
Puritan is made to be drunk young. This is a wine meant to drink now, not stash in your cellar. Bright red and dark fruits on the nose, as well as damsons, chocolate and blueberries on the palate, all tied up with fine grained subtle tannins practically force you to open the wine. The wine will cope very well with being refrigerated on a hot day, or it can be taken with a juicy steak.
Vintage
It is a massive truism, but really, every vintage is different. Vintage 2012 was condensed into about 8 weeks from go to whoa which meant we had finished crushing all grapes by the end of March. Generally this feat would only be accomplished by the middle to end of April. Yields across all varieties were considerably down on average (from 15-40% in some varieties), but quality is looking very promising for both reds and whites. We had cool conditions up until the end of February then some rain, which did not affect things too much (see vintage 2011)as the whites were already picked and safely in the winery, and reds were unaffected. Joch’s prediction, with further checks on wine in barrel and subsequent contemplation is that 2012 will be a great red wine year.
Winemaking
The game plan with Puritan is to make a young and vibrant early drinking red wine. Our template for Puritan is the ‘vino Joven’ style Spanish wines (made usually with Tempranillo) which are unoaked and drunk in their infancy. Standard winemaking operating procedures were followed when making Puritan at the start; we pick and ferment the grapes, then allow the wine to go through its secondary (malolactic) fermentation. Then we divert from normal SOP’s, as we bottle the Puritan immediately, without the addition of any sulphur dioxide (preservative), or putting the wine into oak barrels. ‘Puritan’ Shiraz more often than not makes it into bottle before our aromatic whites.
Awards
Gold Medal and Trophy for Best Preservative Free Wine of Show – Australia and New Zealand Organic Wine Show 2013
The Battle of Bosworth 'Puritan Shiraz {no added preservative} won Gold in the Shiraz Class (class 11) at the recent Australia and New Zealand Organic Wine Show. The Puritan was the top pointed wine in class and then went on to take the Trophy for Best Preservative Free Wine of Show. This is the second year that the Puritan has won this trophy - the 2011 Puritan took the honours at last year's Organic Wine Show.
Chief Judge Max Allen described the Puritan on Twitter as 'gorgeous,dark and slurpy' - which is exactly how we wanted to it be! Comments from the judges, in a stream of consciousness are....'dark fruit, all about fruit, a wine you want to drink / lots of raspberries, fresh / sweet fruited palate, rhubarby, i like this / pretty violet aromas, supple style, attractive, well handled / bright and jubey, great balance, moreish / vibrant, round, juicy, full of flavour, supple, opens beautifully with air'
Well done Joch.
Other Vintages
Technical Details
Vineyards: Denton's, Edgehill and Chanticleer
Picking Date: 25th, 27th and 29th of February 2012
pH Level: 3.68
Alc/Vol: 14.0
Bottling Date: 4th June 2012