Wild Duck Creek Shiraz Reserve 2021 from Heathcote exemplifies expert winemaking with its meticulous vineyard management and production. Aged exclusively in new French oak barriques, this Shiraz reveals a complex, textured profile and a refined, smooth finish. It captures the essence of premium Australian Shiraz, offering depth and elegance in every sip.
"The bottle reminds us ‘Exceptional Selection’ which I like more than Premium or Reserve in many respects. Sounds a little old school, in the best sense. And practical in a way. This wine has a stipulation that yields must be 1.5kg per vine or less, and then chosen from the varied sites to make it up. There is 30% whole bunch in the ferment too. Spends almost two years in new French oak. Unfined and unfiltered to bottles. First sniffs start with clove, char, sandalwood, espresso and dark choc-mint with whiffs of ripe plum, black olive and blueberry. Fleshy in the palate with a weave of firm, dusty tannin, more woody nuance with clove and char again, some twiggy elements, dark chocolate a strong feature, anise, salted plums. It’s full on, potent, breathy in a way, and feels a little overt in its ripeness and booze-soaked berry kind of feel, but the flow is good and the overall impact impressive, without teetering. Of an ilk, but done well." 93 Points - Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, July 2023, Drink: 2023 - 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.
Estate grown Shiraz of exceptional quality.
No stone is left unturned in the production of Shiraz Reserve. The vineyards are cared for meticulously through hard cane pruning, shoot thinning in spring, under-vine mulching, as well as fruit thinning if needed at veraison to control yield and separate bunches. The fruit is then partly de-stemmed, often using up to 50% whole bunches in the ferment to create layers of texture, slow down fermentation and control temperature. The resulting wine is then basket pressed into 100% new French oak barriques where it will lay for up to 27 months depending on the vintage.
