Winery & Vintage Info
Located in Central Victoria, Heathcote Estate was planted in 1999 on the ancient Cambrian soils that define the heart of the region. The 500-million-year-old soils are integral to the distinctive characters in these special wines.
The Kirby family established Heathcote Estate with the sole objective to make a single vineyard shiraz. And over the past decade, the label has forged a reputation for wines of exceptional character and longevity.
Led by winemaker Tom Carson, their philosophy is to craft wines that speak of the distinct characteristics of Heathcote and more particularly, their own individual site. It’s the attention and care in the vineyard that allows this pure expression of their vineyard and incredible balance in their shiraz.
Heathcote Estate is 100% organically certified and managed vineyard (NASAA certification in September 2021).
The 2021 vintage was exceptional in Heathcote, with all the makings of our finest yet. One of our coldest winters in recent memory was followed by a warm and dry spring, with perfect, even set and growth. The warm, dry and consistent conditions prevailed throughout summer, resulting in highly concentrated small berries.
Our five individual blocks and their various sections where handled separately in the winery and vintage 2016 created 11 unique batches of wine. The grapes were fermented in a combination of traditional open and closed fermenters after gentle de-stemming, with some batches receiving whole bunches. The wines were then pressed and transferred into French Oak barrels for malolactic fermentation – majority 300L hogsheads, some 500L puncheons and some parcels aged in traditional 6250L cuves. Racked twice during maturation, bottled February 2022.
