Zonte's Footstep Shiraz/Viognier 2006
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The fruit is sourced from five hundred and twenty odd acres of vineyard at Langhorne Creek, one of Australia's oldest wine grape districts just South East of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, on the spectacular Fleurieu Peninsula.
Last century, a group of old school mates founded the vineyards in the Langhorne Creek wine region, close to the original 19th-century plantings, in the traditional grape growing heart of the area. Planted mainly to red grapes and beloved Shiraz, there are also some significant plantings of whites, including the pioneer plantings of Viognier in the district. With more than 50 acres of the variety planted, it is quite possibly the largest planting in the Southern Hemisphere.
This wine is initially a fruit bomb, full of blackberries, juicy, soft and sweet. The full fruit flavors are married together with some subtle blonde tobacco and fine grained mouth puckering tannin. Medium bodied and finely tuned with refreshingly zippy tannins balanced by fine soft cedary oak flavors on a rounded fruit palate.
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These are serious wines that restores one's faith in the purity of winemaking during an age of vinous homogeny.
Though Syrah originated in the Rhône Valley of France, Australia is home to the oldest Syrah (called Shiraz here) vines on the planet. Found in Australia’s Barossa Valley, where phylloxera has never threated viticulture, these ancient vines are between 140 to 175 years old!
Having brought fame and merit to the country’s wine scene since the early 1950s, namely via the debut of Penfolds Grange, today Syrah (Shiraz) claims rank as the most widely planted grape in Australia. In fact, the amount of land dedicated to Shiraz in Australia is now almost equivalent to what it is in France. Australian Shiraz has its own personality with flavors and aromas of intense blackberry, fruitcake, menthol, tobacco leaf and umami. Conveniently one can find great Australian Shiraz at a variety of price points but the very best will be dense, gloriously complex and capable of long aging.