Winery & Vintage Info
The 2020 Pirathon Blue Label is an overachieving Barossa Valley Shiraz. This bold Barossa Shiraz shows all the hallmarks of modern Barossa Valley Shiraz.
Pirathon Blue Label Shiraz helps in the challenge of what to pick by being a consistent, high quality and traditional Barossa Shiraz that you can rely on. For that special occasion you simply do not need to think and worry about what to choose but can rely on this for a good quality, hearty Shiraz.
The 2020 growing season was a challenging one viticulturally. The 2019 calendar year was the driest on record for the Nuriootpa weather station with just 291 mm of rain falling. Winter rainfall was close to average, but Spring and early Summer were very dry. Hot weather in November including 42C on Nov 20 impacted flowering for the second year in around. December continued the hot weather with two heat waves impacting vine growth and berry development. Apart from the odd hot day in January temperatures moderated. Maximum temperatures during the harvest months of February and March were 35 C with a big rain event of February 1 providing over 20 mm of welcome rain. Yields as expected with the variable weather conditions were very low but cooler harvest temperatures at least slowed down ripening so there was no rush to harvest quickly.
The grapes were harvested from the low-yielding vineyards of traditional family growers in the north-western Barossa districts of Moppa, Belvidere & Koonunga. Each vineyard adds its own exclusive dimension to Pirathon Shiraz and combined they produce the ultimate blend. Made up of 87% Shiraz, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon - The grapes used are grown from traditional Barossa clones first introduced to the region over hundreds of years ago.
Each vineyard was harvested at optimum maturity from mid February and late March. Following harvest, each individual lot of grapes was crushed into a separate open top fermenter. During fermentation, hand pump-overs gently extracted colour and flavour from the grapes. After 7-10 days on skins the fermented grapes were pressed with a traditional press. The wines were then filled to new and seasoned French, Hungarian and American oak hogsheads for maturation for 24 months before each lot of wine was racked from the barrel and carefully blended. The wine was bottled without fining, ensuring the true expression of the vineyards in the bottle. Vegan friendly. Winery Notes
