The vines which produce this wine surround our house and the furthest are 500m from it, so they are very familiar in all their seasonal guises. They are like old friends. I have pruned and tended them since I was a child and so the appearance of the vines themselves, the leaves and the bunches as they develop, is very familiar. I feel like I share a life experience with them and so they are close to my heart.

The wine we produce from them reflects this vineyard and our region.
Noon Eclipse is produced predominately from Grenache (80%+), with smaller components of Shiraz and Graciano.

It can be enjoyed as a young wine or cellared and consumed as a more complex and gentle older wine at 10 years plus. We find most vintages show the first signs of maturity at about 4-5 years and then go through a period during which they show aspects of both youth and maturity before developing from about 10 years of age into a gentle, fully mature wine.

Experience suggests that it is best to decant this wine prior to serving to release the flavours.

Food matching suggestions
Noon Eclipse is best served with richly flavoured foods. It is not a wine for sipping over a light summer salad lunch. It is more suited to an Autumn or Winter’s evening with some richly flavoured fare based around chorizo sausage, anchovies, olives etc.; think along the lines of hearty Mediterranean food.

The stage of maturity of the wine also has an influence on the best food pairing. As a young wine (say from 1 to 4 years) choose quite strongly flavoured more complex dishes such as wild hare or duck in richly sauced casseroles. As an older wine choose robust dishes but served simply, with minimal adornment such as char grilled steak with chips or roast chicken. For tasting notes on individual vintages of this wine click on ‘tasting notes’ above.

Varietal composition
Grenache (80-90%), Shiraz (10-15%) and Graciano (5-10%); all estate grown.
Note that prior to 2011 the Eclipse was typically produced from 65% estate grown Grenache and 35% Langhorne Creek Shiraz (20 Rows block).

Winemaking
Noon Eclipse is usually quite high in alcohol because it is produced from Grenache grapes from low yielding vines. We do not set out with the aim of making a wine of high (or low) alcohol. Our desire rather is to harvest fully ripe fruit which best express the flavour of the grapes and the site.

Noon Eclipse is matured in seasoned 300 litre French and American oak barrels and large (Foudre and demi-muid sized) oak casks for 18 months.

The grapes are picked by hand and fermentation takes place in small open vats with manual pigeage, to help extract colour and tannins. Pressing is also done by hand, using manual basket presses which are gentle and do not extract too much bitterness or astringency.

Very little is added or taken away by modern winemaking technology. We prefer to take a minimalist approach, believing that this will deliver a wine which genuinely reflects the grapes and the site.

Noon Eclipse is grown, made and bottled on the estate.

The Vineyard
We are lucky here in South Australia to have old vines growing on their own roots (not grafted onto rootstocks necessitated by the presence of phylloxera). This could be more important than is generally recognised, allowing our vines to more readily reflect their terroir and produce wines with a ‘sense of place’. This circumstance is quite rare in a world sense and gives us a unique advantage.
Our vines grow in natural harmony with their environment. They are unirrigated and not trellised, so they appear quite 'free range' compared to most modern vineyards. Yields are low, ensuring the grapes ripen easily with full flavour development.

The grapes for Noon Eclipse are picked from three vineyards surrounding and adjacent to our house and winery in McLaren Vale. From the Winery Block where we grow Grenache bush vines, which were planted in 1934; from the Almond Block where we grow Shiraz and Graciano (bush vines) which were planted between 1998 and 2001, and from BJ’s Block which is another Grenache bush vine vineyard, planted in 1943.

We believe the key to Noon Eclipse lies in the special qualities that each of these blocks and varieties brings to the wine and feel lucky to be able to work with such wonderful vineyards.

Average Production
Average production is 700 - 800 dozen 750ml bottles. Older vineyards reflect the seasons more clearly and production can vary significantly, especially in years affected by drought.

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