The 2018 vintage release of Wind Duck Creek has a ‘brilliance’ to the colour of this wine, really purple with a red hue. Taken from four sites, 60% of the blend comes from the south of Heathcote and the remainder from the northern sites. Combination of American and French oak, 45% being new. Intense aromas of bright red fruits, chocolate and strawberry creams. It has it all. The palate is dense and luxurious. Reminiscent of the smell fresh pastries wafting from a French patisserie, combining creaminess and silky yet dense red fruits. Complexity abounds here, with bright natural acids giving a lovely clean finish. Utterly drinkable now, but you’ll want to save some in your collection. Enjoy over the next 15 years.
Reviews "Once was single vineyard wine, now from several sites around Heathcote. Half the wine sees new oak, American and French. Wild Duck Creek Heartland stuff. Slurpy, lush and lavish, inky and so oily and dense. A cavalcade of concentrated cassis, raspberry, choc-liquorice, nougat, vanilla cream. All happening. Sweetness of fruit is apparent, so rich, but so smooth, luxurious, spreading in a satiny puddle to every corner of the palate, then a swish of fine, building and puckering tannins finish the wine. It’s huge, it’s opulent, but its fresh and balanced in its own way. If you’re into size, here you go, it’s done so well." 94 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, July 2020, Drink: 2020 - 2030
Wild Duck Creek Estate is a small family-run winery situated 8km west of Heathcote, alongside the Wild Duck Creek itself. David (aka ‘Duck’) and Diana planted the first vines in 1974 and in 1979 named the first vineyard “Alan’s Cabernet Vineyard”, after Duck’s late father Alan. The “Original Vineyard” was planted in 1988 on land owned by Diana’s parents. Traditional winemaking methods including hand-picking, open fermentation, hand-plunging, basket-pressing, and long-term barrel-ageing are fostered, as is the use biodynamic principles on their own vineyards.
Duck remains adamant however, that it’s still the vineyard and site selection especially, that dictate great wines. Second-generation winemaking has flourished for more than a decade through Liam, whose methodical yet innovative approaches merge fantastically with Duck’s eccentricity – a humorous and brilliant concoction! The estate’s passion is to produce extraordinary wines of balance and power that enrich and delight the senses.
The 2018 vintage Springflat Shiraz is a blend of 4 distinct estate grown vineyards in the Heathcote region. Parcels of fruit are made separately, utilising a small amount of whole bunches in the ferments for added texture, hand plunged, basket pressed and then matured in French and American oak hogsheads for up to 22 months, 40% of which are new. Winery Notes
