Gold medal shiraz

Heathcote Winery's Brett Winslow and Rachel Brooker.

The team at Heathcote Winery is totally chuffed! Not only did they find out last week that their 2011 Mail Coach Shiraz won a gold medal in the International Wine Challenge in London - it was the only gold medal for a shiraz awarded to a Victorian Winery at the 2013 event. And - yes, there is more - it was from a vintage which many winemakers across Australia reckon is one best forgotten!

So how did they manage to achieve when many around them were giving up, some because of disease and some because of other effects of the wet and humid weather conditions?

For starters, it can be put down to diligence where it all begins, out among the vines.

The success is a direct the result of what the team describes as an almost manic inspection regime in the vineyard, resulting in the vineyard manager, Brett Winslow, delivering to the winemaking team some lovely clean shiraz which reflected beautifully the season. 

Once in the winery, winemaker, Rachel Brooker, adjusted her regime to reflect the seasonal variations. She said that there were a number of things which had to be looked after very carefully, one was that this vintage could not be exposed to the air which in some other years can be quite beneficial. It was also pressed a little earlier and then put straight into the barrels.

All through that, Rachel says, it was a case of monitoring constantly.

The result was a lovely full-flavoured shiraz, reflecting the cool season but retaining the essential finesse and elegance expected from central Heathcote shiraz.

Previous vintages of the Mail Coach Shiraz have also received medals in the London event, notably gold for 2008, silver for 2009 and bronze for 2010. 

Despite jokes that 2011 would follow the pattern and end up with no medal, it did everyone proud. Yes, it is still available but for how long, who knows?