2015 Best's Great Western Shiraz Thomson Family
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The Thomson Family Shiraz is produced from Henry Best’s original 1867 Shiraz plantings, and is only available in exceptional years, on average about six times a decade. The vines are cropped at less than two tonnes per acre (four tonnes per hectare) and are then meticulously hand- harvested, selected and sorted. Thomson Family Shiraz was first made in 1992, one hundred years after the Thomson family settled in the area. It is produced predominantly from the fifteen rows of vines planted by Henry Best, recorded as “Hermitage” by Henry in his daily journal. Today the clone is referred to by the CSIRO as the Concongella clone or the Best’s Old Block clone and it is the mother clone of all subsequent shiraz plantings at Best’s Great Western.
Thomson Family Shiraz is hand harvested, hand plunged and fermented in small open fermenters. The wine is only produced in years when the quality is second to none. The Langton’s Classification is “Outstanding”.
The 2014 Thomson Family Shiraz was awarded the ‘Wine Of The Year’ for the 2017 Halliday Wine Companion.
TECHNICAL DETAILS Region: Great Western, Victoria Grape Variety: Shiraz
Alcohol: 14%
Winemaker: Justin Purser
TASTING NOTES
Colour: Deep dark red with a purple hue.
Bouquet: Closed at first, this wine takes time to reveal intense dark fruit aromas with an array of complexity including all spice, nori, black pepper, blueberries, rose petals, cedar and dark chocolate.
Palate: The essence of the vineyard is displayed with intense, yet vibrant medium bodied flavours of dark fruits and chocolate. A graphite minerality and savoury fine tannins linger in the mouth.
Cellaring: This wine needs time to reveal its true character, 5 - 20yrs+. This wine benefits from decanting 1 hour prior to serving. Try it with Beef Wellington and crispy potatoes baked in duck fat.
Vintage: A moderate season with no real hot spells. Very cool nights and warm days ensured the grapes ripened fully but retained all their natural acidity. Quality is very good, but crops were reduced due to the dry weather and spring frosts